High risk of complications after a "low risk" procedure: A national study of nursing home residents and older adults undergoing haemorrhoid surgery

AIM

To evaluate 30-day complications and 1-year mortality for older adults undergoing haemorrhoid surgery.

METHOD

This retrospective cohort study evaluated older adults (age 66+) undergoing haemorrhoid surgery using Medicare claims and the minimum data set (MDS). Long-stay nursing home residents were identified, and propensity score matched to community-dwelling older adults. Generalized estimating equation models were created to determine the adjusted relative risk of 30-day complications, length of stay (LOS), and 1-year mortality. Among nursing home residents, functional and cognitive status were evaluated using the MDS-activities of daily living (ADL) score and the Brief Instrument of Mental Status. Faecal continence status was evaluated among a subset of nursing home residents.

RESULTS

A total of 3664 subjects underwent haemorrhoid surgery and were included in the analyses. Nursing home residents were at significantly higher risk for 30-day complications (52.3% vs. 32.9%, aRR 1.6 [95% CI: 1.5-1.7], p < 0.001), and 1-year mortality (24.9% vs. 16.1%, aRR 1.6 [95% CI: 1.3-1.8], p < 0.001). Functional and mental status showed an inflection point of decline around the time of the procedure, which did not recover to the baseline trajectory in the following year. Additionally, a subset of nursing home residents demonstrated worsening faecal incontinence.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated high rates of 30-day complications and 1-year mortality among all older adults (yet significantly worse among nursing home residents). Ultimately, primary care providers and surgeons should carefully weigh the potential harms of haemorrhoid surgery in older adults living in a nursing home.

Underinsurance And Multiple Surgical Treatments for Kidney Stones

OBJECTIVE

To further elucidate the relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) and larger, more complex stones requiring staged surgical interventions. Specifically, we aimed to determine if underinsurance (Medicaid, Medicare, and self-pay insurance types) is associated with multiple surgeries within 1 year.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective longitudinal analysis of prospectively collected data from the California statewide Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) dataset. We included adult patients who had their first recorded kidney stone encounter between 2009 and 2018 and underwent at least 1 urologic stone procedure. We followed these patients within the dataset for one year after their initial surgery to assess for factors predicting multiple surgical treatments for stones.

RESULTS

A total of 156,319 adults were included in the study. The proportions of individuals in private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare and self-pay/indigent groups differed by the presence or absence of additional surgeries (64.0%, 13.5%, 19.4%, and 0.1%, vs 70.3%, 10.1%, 16.6%, and 0.1%, respectively). Compared to private insurance, Medicaid (1.46 [1.40-1.53] P < .001) and Medicare (1.15 [1.10-1.20] P < .001) insurance types were associated with significantly greater odds of multiple surgeries, whereas no significant association was seen in the self-pay/indigent insurance type (1.35 [0.83-2.19], P = 1.0).

CONCLUSION

In a statewide, California database from 2009 to 2018, underinsured adults had higher odds of undergoing a second procedure for kidney stones within 1 year of initial surgical treatment. This study adds to the expanding body of literature linking suboptimal healthcare access and disparate outcomes for kidney stone patients.

Community Income, Healthy Food Access, and Repeat Surgery for Kidney Stones

OBJECTIVE

To determine if limited food access census tracts and food swamp census tracts are associated with increased risk for repeat kidney stone surgery. And to elucidate the relationship between community-level food retail environment relative to community-level income on repeat stone surgery over time.

METHODS

Data were abstracted from the University of California, San Francisco Information Commons. Adult patients were included if they underwent at least one urologic stone procedure. Census tracts from available geographical data were mapped using Food Access Research Atlas data from the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Kaplan-Meier curves were employed to illustrate time to a second surgical procedure over 5 years, and log-rank tests were used to test for statistically significant differences. A multivariate Cox regression model was used to generate hazard ratios for undergoing second surgery by group.

RESULTS

A total of 1496 patients were included in this analysis. Repeat stone surgery occurred in 324 patients. Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated a statistically significant difference in curves depicting patients living in low income census tracts (LICTs) vs those not living in LICTs (P <.001). On Cox regression models, patients in LICTs had significantly higher risk of undergoing repeat surgery (P = .011). Patients from limited food access census tracts and food swamp census tracts did not have a significantly higher adjusted risk of undergoing second surgery (P = .11 and P = .88, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Income more so than food access associates with increased risk of repeat kidney stone surgery. Further research is needed to explore the interaction between low socioeconomic status and kidney stone outcomes.

Missed opportunity: An intersectional approach to disparities in long-term survival in bladder cancer

476

Background: For individuals with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), studies focused on racial disparities have shown black race is associated with 21% lower odds of guideline-based treatment (GBT) and differences in treatment explain 35% of observed black-white differences in survival. To characterize how the interaction between race/ethnicity and receipt of GBT drive within- and between-race differences in survival for black, white, and Latino individuals with MIBC. Methods: We identified a cohort of individuals with cT2-4 MIBC from 2004-2013 in the National Cancer Database. GBT was defined by American Urological Association guidelines. A Cox proportional hazards model of patient mortality estimated effects of patient GBT status, race/ethnicity, and the GBT-by-race/ethnicity interaction, adjusting for covariates. Results: Of 54,910 MIBC individuals with 125,821 person-years of post-treatment observation (max=11 years), 90.1% were white, 6.9% black, and 3.0% Latino. Half (50.2%) received GBT. Averaging across GBT status, Latino individuals had lower hazard of death compared to black (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.75-0.87) and white individuals (HR 0.92, 0.86-0.98). With GBT, Latino and white individuals had similar outcomes (HR=1.00, 0.91-1.10) and both groups fared significantly better than black individuals (HR=0.88, 0.79-0.99 and HR=0.88, 0.83-0.94, respectively). Without GBT, Latino individuals fared better than white (HR=0.85, 0.77-0.93) and black individuals (HR=0.74, 0.67-0.82) while white individuals fared better than black individuals (HR=0.87, 0.83-0.92). Latino without GBT fared better than black individuals with GBT (H=0.98, 0.88-1.09), although not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our study finds that not only are GBT levels generally low, which is concerning, but there is also an apparent 'under-allocation' of GBT to a patient group who arguably needs it the most-- black individuals. Future efforts to improve the delivery of GBT, a factor directly impacted by urologic care providers, may mitigate the race-based survival differences observed in individuals with MIBC.