Assessing the impact of an ageing population on complication rates and in-patient length of stay.
Int J Surg
; 11(9): 872-5, 2013.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23917211
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Ireland has an ageing population; with the proportion of people aged over 80 years estimated to increase over the next 20 years from 1.1% to 2.1%.AIMS:
The aim of this study was to examine the demographics of the population served by the surgical department in a tertiary referral centre in the west of Ireland and to examine whether increasing age had an influence on morbidity, mortality and length of stay.METHODS:
Data pertaining to all surgical admissions over a 6-month period between was collected prospectively using an ACS-NSQIP based proforma. Data collected included patient age, gender, operative intervention, in-patient length of stay, mode of admission and complications related to their admission.RESULTS:
A total of 2209 patients were admitted under the care of the general, vascular and breast services in our centre over a 6-month period between August and January. Two thousand and nineteen patients had complete data collected. The average age was 50.37 years (± 23.62), with 24.12% (n = 533) older than 70 years. Only 12.31% of patients aged younger than 70 years experienced morbidity, compared to 25.10% of older patients. It was shown that there was a stepwise increase with complication rates and hospital in-patient stay across each decade of increasing age. Multivariate analysis showed those factors most predictive of a complication to include emergency admission, major or complex major surgical intervention, female gender and age. Length of stay was also found to have a positive correlation with increasing age (Spearman's Rho, p < 0.001).CONCLUSION:
Increasing age is associated with increased complication rates and increased hospital length of stay.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Postoperative Complications
/
Length of Stay
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Surg
Year:
2013
Type:
Article