A study found that having multiple orthopedic surgeries in the same hospital stay was linked to slower recovery and increased risk of death, according to an Oct. 19 news release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
6 notes:
1. Researchers analyzed the National Inpatient Sample database from 2016 and 2019, and they identified 28,475,485 patients who had orthopedic surgery in the hospital.
2. Of the patients included in the study, 1,853,360 of them were diagnosed with malnutrition after admission. They were grouped based on the number of surgeries they had during a single hospitalization.
3. Patients who were diagnosed with malnutrition had an average 2.31 surgeries while those who weren't had an average of 1.57 surgeries.
4. Researchers found malnourished patients were at least 15% more likely to die and had longer hospital stays (an average 9.07 days vs. 4.34 days).
5. Orthopedic patients who were malnourished also had higher hospital costs, the study found.
6. Researchers suggest patients who have multiple orthopedic surgeries in one hospital stay get personalized nutritional support.
"The combined effects of repeated fasting and surgical stress can compromise nutritional status, regardless of the type of surgery, and it is likely our findings would hold true for patients undergoing multiple surgeries of any type," George Williams, MD, senior author of the study said in the release. "However, it may be more challenging to assess the cause-and-effect relationship in gastrointestinal surgeries due to their direct impact on the digestive system."