Effect of adverse events on postop outcomes

Editor's Note

Intraoperative adverse events are independently associated with increased postoperative mortality, morbidity, and prolonged length of stay (LOS), this study finds.

Of 9,288 abdominal surgical procedures analyzed, 183 had intraoperative adverse events. Most consisted of bowel (44%) or vessel (29%) injuries, which were addressed intraoperatively (92%).

Multivariate analysis showed that adverse events were independently associated with increased 30-day mortality (OR=3.19), 30-day morbidity (OR=2.68), and prolonged LOS (OR=1.85).

Postoperative complications associated with adverse events included deep/organ-space surgical site infections (OR=1.94), sepsis (OR=2.14), pneumonia (OR=2.18), and failure to wean from the ventilator (OR=3.88).

Objective: We sought to assess the impact of intraoperative adverse events (iAEs) on 30-day postoperative mortality, 30-day postoperative morbidity, and postoperative length of stay (LOS) among patients undergoing abdominal surgery. We hypothesized that iAEs would be associated with significant i...