In the study, a team of researchers from Northwestern University in Chicago studied 24,747 patients who underwent major GI surgery, including 4115 patients undergoing upper GI tract operations, 3364 having hepatobiliary or pancreatic operations and 17,268 undergoing colorectal surgery, according to the report.
For elderly patients (75 years or older), overall morbidity was 25.8 percent for upper GI tract, 33.7 percent for HPB and 27.3 percent for colorectal surgery, 1.2 to 2.0 times higher than younger patients. Thirty-day perioperative mortality was 5.7 percent, 4.7 percent and 4.2 percent for the three procedures, respectively, according to the report. This was 2.9 to 6.7 times higher than the younger population.
According to report, elderly patients were also more likely to experience acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, respiratory failure, urinary tract infection and renal failure than younger patients. Results were similar for the likelihood of surgical site infections, postoperative bleeding events, deep venous thromboses and rates of return to the operating room among all patients.
The researchers noted the only quality measures in place for elderly patients address myocardial infarction, surgical site infection and deep venous thrombosis.
Read the MedWire News about quality measures for elderly patients undergoing GI surgery.
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