Postoperative complications are the most significant predictor for readmissions following plastic surgery procedures, according to a recent study.
Researchers from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, reviewed 10,669 patients in the 2011 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program databases. The patients had undergone primary plastic surgery procedures. Patients who were readmitted were compared to those who were not.
There was a 4.5 percent readmission rate. Elective/cosmetic breast procedures were most common (23.4 percent), followed by breast implant reconstruction (16.5 percent), revision breast procedures (14.9 percent), hand operations (9.7 percent) and body contouring procedures (5.9 percent). Wound complication rate was 4.6 percent and medical complication rate was 4.9 percent.
The overall incidence of postop complications was 10.9 percent, of which 4.8 percent were classified as major surgical complications, researchers found. Independent risk factors associated with readmission were procedure type (P=0.029); obesity (P=0.011); anemia (P=0.003); and medical (P<0.001), major surgical (P<0.001) and wound (P<0.001) complications.
“Patients experiencing postoperative surgical complications were six times more likely to be readmitted. These findings can assist surgeons and health systems to better tailor preoperative risk counseling, resource allocation and postoperative discharge services,” study authors concluded.
The findings were published in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
