Healthcare-related correlates of preoperative psychological distress among a mixed surgical and cancer-specific sample

Preoperative psychological distress is associated with mortality within 1 year of non-cardiac surgery

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the association between preoperative psychological distress and postoperative complications at 30 days and mortality at 1 year in a non-cardiac surgery sample.

METHOD

Data were taken from a subsample of the VISION cohort study (n = 997; 2011-2012). Participants were scheduled to undergo major non-cardiac surgery under general or regional anesthesia. Participants self-reported past 30-day psychological distress on the day of surgery using the Kessler-6 (K6) Scale. Complications were assessed via interviews and/or chart reviews. Multivariable logistic regressions characterized the relationship between preoperative psychological distress and postoperative complications. Models were fitted for sociodemographics, surgery type, preoperative medical morbidity, and smoking.

RESULTS

Among participants with a completed K6 (n = 938), 7.9 % experienced mortality within 1 year. After controlling for age, ethnicity, sex, surgery type, preoperative medical morbidity, and smoking, higher levels of preoperative psychological distress were associated with 30 day complications such as myocardial infarction, non-fatal cardiac arrest, leg/arm deep vein thrombosis/ pulmonary embolism, new acute renal failure, pneumonia, and congestive heart failure (AOR3 (3rd model), 1.12, [95 % CI, 1.02-1.22, p < 0.05]) and 1-year mortality (AOR3, 1.09, [95 % CI, 1.02-1.18, p < 0.05]). Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that the latter association was being driven by symptoms of depression (AOR3, 1.17 [95 % CI 1.04-1.33, p < 0.05]) but not anxiety (AOR2, 0.94 [95 % CI, 0.61-1.62, p > 0.05]).

CONCLUSION

Elevated preoperative distress increased the risk of 30-day complications and mortality at 1 year. These results underscore the need for future research to examine if supporting patients' mental health during the perioperative period can mitigate risk.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

clinicaltrials.gov, no. NCT00512109 (main VISION study).

Intra- and post-procedural patient-reported experience measures and their correlation with post-ERCP adverse events and unplanned healthcare utilization

BACKGROUND

 Post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) adverse events (AEs) are common, as is unplanned healthcare utilization (UHU). We aimed to assess potential etiologic associations between intra-/post-procedural patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and post-ERCP AEs and UHU. METHODS : Prospective data from a multicenter collaborative were used. A 0-10 Likert-based PREM assessing intra- and post-procedural symptoms was applied to patients following ERCP, and follow-up was performed at 30 days to identify AEs and UHU for reasons not meeting the definitions of any AE. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted using PREM domains as exposures and AEs and UHU as outcomes, with a priori selected covariates. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95 %CIs for each PREM domain were reported.

RESULTS

 From 2018 to 2023, 3434 patients were included. A post-procedural abdominal pain score > 3 was associated with pancreatitis (OR 3.71 [95 %CI 2.37-5.73]), while a score > 6 was associated with perforation (OR 9.54 [95 %CI 1.10-59.37]). Post-procedural pain was also associated with UHU within 30 days when used as a continuous exposure (OR 1.08 per point [95 %CI 1.01-1.16]), and when partitioned at a score > 3 (OR 1.79 [95 %CI 1.13-2.74]) and a score > 6 (OR 1.93 [95 %CI 1.02-3.46]). No other intra- or post-procedural PREMs were associated with any AEs or UHU.

CONCLUSIONS

 Patient-reported abdominal pain from a Likert-based PREM at the time of discharge from ERCP was associated with pancreatitis, perforation, and UHU within 30 days. Applying PREMs could potentially prevent UHU and/or facilitate earlier management and improved outcomes for patients with post-ERCP AEs.

Prehabilitation in Adults Undergoing Cancer Surgery: A Comprehensive Review on Rationale, Methodology, and Measures of Effectiveness

Cancer surgery places a significant burden on a patients' functional status and quality of life. In addition, cancer surgery is fraught with postoperative complications, themselves influenced by a patient's functional status. Prehabilitation is a unimodal or multimodal strategy that aims to increase a patient's functional capacity to reduce postoperative complications and improve postoperative recovery and quality of life. In most cases, it involves exercise, nutrition, and anxiety-reducing interventions. The impact of prehabilitation has been explored in several types of cancer surgery, most commonly colorectal and thoracic. Overall, the existing evidence suggests prehabilitation improves physiological outcomes (e.g., lean body mass, maximal oxygen consumption) as well as clinical outcomes (e.g., postoperative complications, quality of life). Notably, the benefit of prehabilitation is additional to that of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs. While safe, prehabilitation programs require multidisciplinary coordination preoperatively. Despite the existence of numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the certainty of evidence demonstrating the efficacy and safety of prehabilitation is low to moderate, principally due to significant methodological heterogeneity and small sample sizes. There is a need for more large-scale multicenter randomized controlled trials to draw strong clinical recommendations.