Open AccessDifferences in Outcomes After Anesthesia-Related Adverse Events in Older and Younger Patients
Author(s) -
Christopher W. Root,
Yaakov Beilin,
Patrick J. McCormick,
Christopher J. Curatolo,
Daniel Katz,
Jaime B. Hyman
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal for healthcare quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.374
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1945-1474
pISSN - 1062-2551
DOI - 10.1097/jhq.0000000000000216
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesiology , adverse effect , incidence (geometry) , perioperative , retrospective cohort study , odds ratio , anesthesia , odds , cohort , emergency medicine , pediatrics , surgery , logistic regression , physics , optics
Because more older adults undergo surgical procedures, it is incumbent on us to learn how to provide them with the safest possible perioperative care. We conducted a retrospective cohort study at a large tertiary care center to determine whether outcomes after anesthesia-related adverse events differed between patients aged 65 years and older versus patients under age 65. One thousand four hundred twenty-four cases were referred to the Performance Improvement committee of the Department of Anesthesiology from the years 2007-2015. After exclusions of cases that were not anesthesia-related, could not be identified, or were duplicates, 747 cases with anesthesia-related adverse events were included in the study. Two hundred eighty-six were aged 65 years and older and 461 were under age 65. Anesthesia-related adverse events occurred more commonly in the postoperative period in older patients relative to younger patients (37.7% vs. 21.9%, p = .001), and older patients had a greater incidence of mortality compared with a propensity-matched group of younger patients (adjusted odds ratio 1.87 [1.14-3.12], p < .05). We concluded that older patients have a greater likelihood of mortality as a result of suffering an anesthesia-related adverse event and may benefit from increased vigilance in the postoperative period.