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Purpose: Cardiogenic shock secondary to acute myocardial infarction (AMI-CS) is associated with substantial short- and long-term morbidity and mortality. However, there are limited data on mental health sequelae that survivors experience following discharge. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada of critically ill adult (≥ 18 years) survivors of AMI-CS, admitted to hospital between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2019. We compared these patients to AMI survivors without shock. We captured outcome data using linked health administrative databases. The primary outcome was a new mental health diagnosis (a composite of mood, anxiety, or related disorders; schizophrenia/psychotic disorders; and other mental health disorders) following hospital discharge. We secondarily evaluated incidence of deliberate self-harm and death by suicide. We compared patients using overlap propensity score-weighted, cause-specific proportional hazard models. Results: We included 7812 consecutive survivors of AMI-CS, from 135 centers. Mean age was 68.4 (standard deviation (SD) 12.2) years, and 70.3% were male. Median follow-up time was 767 days (interquartile range (IQR) 225–1682). Incidence of new mental health diagnosis among AMI-CS survivors was 109.6 per 1,000 person-years (95% confidence interval (CI) 105.4–113.9), compared with 103.8 per 1000 person-years (95% CI 102.5–105.2) among AMI survivors without shock. After propensity score adjustment, there was no difference in the risk of new mental health diagnoses following discharge [hazard ratio (HR) 0.99 (95% CI 0.94–1.03)]. Factors associated with new mental health diagnoses following AMI-CS included female sex, pre-existing mental health diagnoses, and discharge to a long-term hospital or rehabilitation institute. Conclusion: Survivors of AMI-CS experience substantial mental health morbidity following discharge. Risk of new mental health diagnoses was comparable between survivors of AMI with and without shock. Future research on interventions to mitigate psychiatric sequelae after AMI-CS is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Days alive and at home (DAH) is a patient centered outcome measureable in routinely collected health data. The validity and minimally important difference (MID) in hip fracture have not been evaluated. Objective We assessed construct and predictive validity and estimated a MID for the patient-centred outcome of DAH after hip fracture admission. Methods This is a cross-sectional observational study using linked health administrative data in Ontario, Canada. DAH was calculated as the number of days alive within 90 days of admission minus the number of days hospitalised or institutionalised. All hospital admissions (2012-2018) for hip fracture in adults aged >50 years were included. Construct validity analyses used Bayesian quantile regression to estimate the associations of postulated patient, admission and process-related variables with DAH. The predictive validity assessed was the correlation of DAH in 90 days with the value from 91 to 365 days; and the association and discrimination of DAH in 90 days predicting subsequent mortality. MID was estimated by averaging distribution-based and clinical anchor-based estimates. Results We identified 63 778 patients with hip fracture. The median number of DAH was 43 (range 0-87). In the 90 days after admission, 8050 (12.6%) people died; a further 6366 (10.0%) died from days 91 to 365. Associations between patient-level and admission-level factors with the median DAH (lower with greater age, frailty and comorbidity, lower if admitted to intensive care or having had a complication) supported construct validity. DAH in 90 days after admission was strongly correlated with DAH in 365 days after admission (r=0.922). An 11-day MID was estimated. Conclusion DAH has face, construct and predictive validity as a patient-centred outcome in patients with hip fracture, with an estimated MID of 11 days. Future research is required to include direct patient perspectives in confirming MID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cellular processes are controlled by sleep. Therefore, alterations in sleep might be expected to stress biological systems that could influence malignancy risk. What is the association between polysomnographic measures of sleep disturbances and incident cancer, and what is the validity of cluster analysis in identifying polysomnography phenotypes? We conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study using linked clinical and provincial health administrative data on consecutive adults free of cancer at baseline with polysomnography data collected between 1994 and 2017 in four academic hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Cancer status was derived from registry records. Polysomnography phenotypes were identified by k-means cluster analysis. A combination of validation statistics and distinguishing polysomnographic features was used to select clusters. Cox cause-specific regressions were used to assess the relationship between identified clusters and incident cancer. Among 29,907 individuals, 2,514 (8.4%) received a diagnosis of cancer over a median of 8.0 years (interquartile range, 4.2-13.5 years). Five clusters were identified: mild (mildly abnormal polysomnography findings), poor sleep, severe OSA or sleep fragmentation, severe desaturations, and periodic limb movements of sleep (PLMS). The associations between cancer and all clusters compared with the mild cluster were significant while controlling for clinic and year of polysomnography. When additionally controlling for age and sex, the effect remained significant only for PLMS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.26; 95% CI, 1.06-1.50) and severe desaturations (aHR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.04-1.66). Further controlling for confounders, the effect remained significant for PLMS, but was attenuated for severe desaturations. In a large cohort, we confirmed the importance of polysomnographic phenotypes and highlighted the role that PLMS and oxygenation desaturation may play in cancer. Using this study's findings, we also developed an Excel (Microsoft) spreadsheet (polysomnography cluster classifier) that can be used to validate the identified clusters on new data or to identify which cluster a patient belongs to. ClinicalTrials.gov; Nos.: NCT03383354 and NCT03834792; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and early survival among newly diagnosed cancer patients. Methods: This retrospective population-based cohort study used linked administrative datasets from Ontario, Canada. Adults (=18 years) who received a cancer diagnosis between March 15 and December 31, 2020, were included in a pandemic cohort, while those diagnosed during the same dates in 2018/2019 were included in a pre-pandemic cohort. All patients were followed for one full year after the date of diagnosis. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess survival in relation to the pandemic, patient characteristics at diagnosis, and the modality of first cancer treatment as a time-varying covariate. Interaction terms were explored to measure the pandemic association with survival for each cancer type. Results: Among 179,746 patients, 53,387 (29.7%) were in the pandemic cohort and 37,741 (21.0%) died over the first post-diagnosis year. No association between the pandemic and survival was found when adjusting for patient characteristics at diagnosis (HR 0.99 [95% CI 0.96-1.01]), while marginally better survival was found for the pandemic cohort when the modality of treatment was additionally considered (HR 0.97 [95% CI 0.95-0.99]). When examining each cancer type, only a new melanoma diagnosis was associated with a worse survival in the pandemic cohort (HR 1.25 [95% CI 1.05-1.49]). Conclusions: Among patients able to receive a cancer diagnosis during the pandemic, one-year overall survival was not different than those diagnosed in the previous 2 years. This study highlights the complex nature of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on cancer care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients surviving an ICU admission for deliberate self-harm are at high risk of recurrent self-harm or suicide after discharge. It is unknown whether mental health follow-up after discharge (with either a family physician or psychiatrist) reduces this risk.Research Question: What is the association between mental health follow-up after discharge and recurrent self-harm among patients admitted to the ICU for intentional self-harm?Study Design and Methods: Population-based cohort study of consecutive adults (≥ 18 years of age) from Ontario, Canada, who were admitted to ICU because of intentional self-harm between 2009 and 2017. We categorized patients according to follow-up, with early follow-up indicating 1 to 21 days after discharge, late follow-up indicating 22 to 60 days after discharge, and no follow-up indicating within 60 days of discharge. We conducted analyses using a cause-specific extended Cox regression model to account for varying time for mental health follow-up relative to the outcomes of interest. The primary outcome was recurrent ICU admission for self-harm within 1 year of discharge.Results: We included 9,569 consecutive adults admitted to the ICU for deliberate self-harm. Compared with receiving no mental health follow-up, both early follow-up (hazard ratio [HR], 1.37; 95% CI, 1.07-1.75) and late follow-up (HR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.22-2.35) were associated with increased risk in recurrent ICU admission for self-harm. As compared with no follow-up, early follow-up (HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.70-1.73]) was not associated with death resulting from suicide, but late follow-up (HR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.37-1.83) was associated with an increase in death resulting from suicide.Interpreation: Among adults admitted to the ICU for deliberate self-harm, mental health follow-up after discharge was not associated with reduced risk of recurrent ICU admission for self-harm or death resulting from suicide, and patients seeking outpatient follow-up may be those at highest risk of these outcomes. Future research should focus on additional and novel methods of risk mitigation in this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is common among surgical patients, and patients with COPD have higher risk for complications and death within 30 days after surgery. We sought to describe the longer-term postoperative survival and costs of patients with COPD compared with those without COPD within 1 year after inpatient elective surgery. Methods: In this retrospective population-based cohort study, we used linked health administrative databases to identify all patients undergoing inpatient elective surgery in Ontario, Canada, from 2005 to 2019. We ascertained COPD status using validated definitions. We followed participants for 1 year after surgery to evaluate survival and costs to the health system. We quantified the association of COPD with survival (Cox proportional hazards models) and costs (linear regression model with log-transformed costs) with partial adjustment (for sociodemographic factors and procedure type) and full adjustment (also adjusting for comorbidities). We assessed for effect modification by frailty, cancer and procedure type. Results: We included 932 616 patients, of whom 170 482 (18%) had COPD. With respect to association with risk of death, COPD had a partially adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.61 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.58–1.64), and a fully adjusted HR of 1.26 (95% CI 1.24–1.29). With respect to impact on health system costs, COPD was associated with a partially adjusted relative increase of 13.1% (95% CI 12.7%–13.4%), and an increase of 4.6% (95% CI 4.3%–5.0%) with full adjustment. Frailty, cancer and procedure type (such as orthopedic and lower abdominal surgery) modified the association between COPD and outcomes. Interpretation: Patients with COPD have decreased survival and increased costs in the year after surgery. Frailty, cancer and the type of surgical procedure modified associations between COPD and outcomes, and must be considered when risk-stratifying surgical patients with COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used as temporary cardiorespiratory support in critically ill patients, but little is known regarding long-term psychiatric sequelae among survivors after ECMO.Objective: To investigate the association between ECMO survivorship and postdischarge mental health diagnoses among adult survivors of critical illness.Design, Setting, and Participants: Population-based retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada, from April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2020. Adult patients (N=4462; age ≥18 years) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and surviving to hospital discharge were included.Exposures: Receipt of ECMO.Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was a new mental health diagnosis (a composite of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder; schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders; other mental health disorders; and social problems) following discharge. There were 8 secondary outcomes including incidence of substance misuse, deliberate self-harm, death by suicide, and individual components of the composite primary outcome. Patients were compared with ICU survivors not receiving ECMO using overlap propensity score-weighted cause-specific proportional hazard models.Results: Among 642 survivors who received ECMO (mean age, 50.7 years; 40.7% female), median length of follow-up was 730 days; among 3820 matched ICU survivors who did not receive ECMO (mean age, 51.0 years; 40.0% female), median length of follow-up was 1390 days. Incidence of new mental health conditions among survivors who received ECMO was 22.1 per 100-person years (95% confidence interval [CI] 19.5-25.1), and 14.5 per 100-person years (95% CI, 13.8-15.2) among non-ECMO ICU survivors (absolute rate difference of 7.6 per 100-person years [95% CI, 4.7-10.5]). Following propensity weighting, ECMO survivorship was significantly associated with an increased risk of new mental health diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR] 1.24 [95% CI, 1.01-1.52]). There were no significant differences between survivors who received ECMO vs ICU survivors who did not receive ECMO in substance misuse (1.6 [95% CI, 1.1 to 2.4] per 100 person-years vs 1.4 [95% CI, 1.2 to 1.6] per 100 person-years; absolute rate difference, 0.2 per 100 person-years [95% CI, -0.4 to 0.8]; HR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.48 to 1.53]) or deliberate self-harm (0.4 [95% CI, 0.2 to 0.9] per 100 person-years vs 0.3 [95% CI, 0.2 to 0.3] per 100 person-years; absolute rate difference, 0.1 per 100 person-years [95% CI, -0.2 to 0.4]; HR, 0.68 [95% CI, 0.21 to 2.23]). There were fewer than 5 total cases of death by suicide in the entire cohort.Conclusions and Relevance: Among adult survivors of critical illness, receipt of ECMO, compared with ICU hospitalization without ECMO, was significantly associated with a modestly increased risk of new mental health diagnosis or social problem diagnosis after discharge. Further research is necessary to elucidate the potential mechanisms underlying this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When patients and physicians speak the same language, it may improve the quality and safety of care delivered. We sought to determine whether patient-physician language concordance is associated with in-hospital and postdischarge outcomes among home care recipients who were admitted to hospital.Methods: We conducted a population-based study of a retrospective cohort of 189 690 home care recipients who were admitted to hospital in Ontario, Canada, between 2010 and 2018. We defined patient language (obtained from home care assessments) as English (Anglophone), French (Francophone) or other (allophone). We obtained physician language from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. We defined hospital admissions as language concordant when patients received more than 50% of their care from physicians who spoke the patients' primary language. We identified in-hospital (adverse events, length of stay, death) and post-discharge outcomes (emergency department visits, readmissions, death within 30 days of discharge). We used regression analyses to estimate the adjusted rate of mean and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of each outcome, stratified by patient language, to assess the impact of language-concordant care within each linguistic group.Results: Allophone patients who received language-concordant care had lower risk of adverse events (adjusted OR 0.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.15-0.43) and in-hospital death (adjusted OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.29-0.66), as well as shorter stays in hospital (adjusted rate of mean 0.74, 95% CI 0.66-0.83) than allophone patients who received language-discordant care. Results were similar for Francophone patients, although the magnitude of the effect was smaller than for allophone patients. Language concordance or discordance of the hospital admission was not associated with significant differences in postdischarge outcomes.Interpretation: Patients who received most of their care from physicians who spoke the patients' primary language had better in-hospital outcomes, suggesting that disparities across linguistic groups could be mitigated by providing patients with language-concordant care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Despite the high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and concurrent use of opioid therapy, no large-scale population studies have investigated whether opioid use and pre-existing OSA may interact synergistically to increase the risk of adverse health consequences. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a retrospective cohort study using provincial health administrative data to evaluate whether the combined presence of opioid use and OSA increases the risk of adverse health consequences, such as mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department (ED) visits; and if it does, whether this co-occurrence has synergistic clinical relevance. Methods: We included all adults who underwent a diagnostic sleep study in Ontario, Canada, between 2013 and 2016. Individuals were considered exposed to opioids if they filled a prescription that overlapped with the date of their sleep study (Opioid+). Individuals with at least a 50% probability of having a diagnosis of moderate to severe OSA (OSA+) were identified using a previously externally validated case-ascertainment model. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality; secondary outcomes were all-cause or ischemic heart disease hospitalizations, all-cause ED visits, and motor vehicle collisions (MVC) requiring hospital or ED visit. We used multivariable Cox regression models to compare hazards between four mutually exclusive groups: (1) Opioid+ OSA+; (2) Opioid+ OSA-; (3) Opioid- OSA+, and (4) OSA- Opioid- (reference for comparison). Relative excess risks due to interaction (RERI) were calculated to test for additive interaction. Results: Of 300,663 adults who underwent a sleep study, 15,713 (5.2%) were considered as Opioid+ and 128,351 (42.7%) as OSA+. Over a median of two years, 6,223 (2.1%) died from any cause. Regardless of OSA status, opioid use at the date of the sleep study was associated with an increased hazard for all-cause mortality with the greatest hazard associated with Opioid+ OSA- (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.75, 95% CI 1.57–1.94), but not Opioid+ OSA+ (aHR: 1.14, 95% CI 1.02–1.27) as hypothesized. Regardless of OSA status, opioid use at the date of the sleep study was associated with an increased hazard for all secondary outcomes. Opioid+ OSA+ was associated with the greatest hazards of all-cause hospitalizations (aHR 1.55, 95% CI 1.49–1.61) and MVC (aHR of 1.39; 95% CI 1.09–1.77); however, no statistically significant synergistic effects were observed. Conclusions: Adults referred for sleep disorder assessment who used opioids had a significantly increased hazard of adverse health outcomes than those who did not, regardless of whether they had a high probability of moderate to severe OSA. The use of opioids and OSA was associated with the greatest hazard of all-cause hospitalizations and MVC requiring hospital or ED visit. The interaction of opioids and OSA did not confer a synergistic risk for poor outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: The evidence for an association between cancer survival and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains underexplored. Objectives: To evaluate an association between markers of OSA severity (respiratory disturbances, hypoxemia, and sleep fragmentation) and cancer-related mortality in individuals with previously diagnosed cancer. Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study using linked clinical and provincial health administrative data on consecutive adults who underwent a diagnostic sleep study between 1994 and 2017 in four Canadian academic hospitals and were previously diagnosed with cancer through the Ontario Cancer Registry. Multivariable cause-specific Cox regressions were used to address the research objective. Results: We included 2,222 subjects. Over a median follow-up time of 5.6 years (interquartile range [IQR], 2.7-9.1 years), 261/2,222 (11.7%) individuals with prevalent cancer died from cancer-related causes, which accounted for 44.2% (261/590) of all-cause death. Controlling for age, sex, alcohol use disorder, prior heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, treatment for OSA, clinic site, year of the sleep study, and time since the cancer diagnosis, measures of hypoxemia and sleep fragmentation, but not apnea-hypopnea index, were significantly associated with the cancer-specific mortality: percentage of time spent with arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) < 90% (hazard ratio [HR] per 5% increase, 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.09); mean SaO2 (HR per 3% increase, 0.79; 0.68-0.92); and percentage of stage 1 sleep (HR per 16% increase, 1.27; 1.07-1.51). Conclusions: In a large clinical cohort of adults with suspected OSA and previously diagnosed cancer, measures of nocturnal hypoxemia and sleep fragmentation as markers of OSA severity were significantly associated with cancer-related mortality, suggesting the need for more targeted risk awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The shape of the association between preoperative hemoglobin level and outcomes after primary arthroplasty has not been adequately described. This study aimed to characterize the association between preoperative hemoglobin level and important outcomes after primary hip and knee arthroplasty and how this association is influenced by other key confounders.Methods: Using de-identified, population-based health administrative data for Ontario housed at ICES, we identified all primary hip and knee arthroplasty procedures performed in Ontario between April 2007 and March 2017. Preoperative hemoglobin level, age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index score, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, preadmission living status, Hospital-patient One-year Mortality Risk (HOMR) score, and serum sodium and creatinine levels were extracted. All relevant postoperative outcomes that could be measured accurately were identified. We performed multivariable logistic regression and restricted cubic splines analyses.Results: A total of 188 176 patients clustered within 532 surgeons were studied. The adjusted likelihood of transfusion increased notably and progressively when the preoperative hemoglobin level was below 135 g/L; duration of surgery, patient age and HOMR score amplified this association. Risk of postoperative admission to critical care showed a linear association with preoperative hemoglobin level. Risks of unplanned 30-day emergency department visit, 30-day readmission and 1-year all-cause mortality showed curvilinear associations with baseline hemoglobin level, with risks being notably greater as the level deviated from 137 g/L to 141 g/L.Conclusion: Preoperative hemoglobin levels, both high and low, were independently significantly associated with primary arthroplasty outcomes, and levels at which outcome risks started to increase exceeded threshold values commonly used to define "normal." Preoperative hemoglobin level should be considered in future bundled payment models that aim to account for case-mix when grading postarthroplasty outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty is a geriatric syndrome that leaves people vulnerable to adverse outcomes. In cardiac surgery, minimal data describe associations between frailty and patient-centred outcomes. Our objective was to estimate the association between frailty and days alive at home after cardiac surgery.Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using linked health administrative data in the Canadian province of Ontario. All individuals >65 yr at the time of cardiac surgery were assigned a frailty score using a validated frailty index. Days alive and at home in the 30 and 365 days after surgery were calculated. The unadjusted and adjusted associations between frailty and days alive at home were calculated.Results: We identified 61 389 patients from 2009 to 2015. Frailty was associated with reduced days at home within 30 days (adjusted ratio of means for every 10% increase in frailty=0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.78-0.81; P<0.0001) and 365 days (adjusted ratio of means for every 10% increase in frailty=0.92; 95% CI, 0.91-0.93; P<0.0001) of surgery. Results were consistent in sensitivity analyses (5.0 fewer days alive at home [95% CI, 4.8-5.2] within 30 days and 9.0 fewer days alive at home [95% CI, 8.7-9.2] within 365 days after surgery).Conclusion: Frailty is associated with a reduction in days alive at home after major cardiac surgery. This information should be considered in prognostic discussions before surgery and in care planning for vulnerable older patient groups. Days alive at home may be a useful outcome for routine measurement in quality, reporting, and studies using routinely collected data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives Randomized and nonrandomized single-center studies suggest that preoperative geriatric evaluation improves postoperative outcomes in older adults. The generalizability and population-level effect of preoperative geriatric evaluation has not been determined. Our objective was to measure the adjusted association between preoperative geriatric evaluation and postoperative outcomes. Design Multilevel multivariable regression model analysis of a population-based historical cohort. Setting Publicly funded universal healthcare system in Ontario, Canada. Participants All adults aged 65 and older having major, elective, noncardiac surgery from 2002 to 2014 (N = 266,499). Intervention We studied geriatric consultations and comprehensive assessments performed in the 4 months prior to surgery. These were identified using validated methods. Measurements Ninety-day survival (primary outcome), in-hospital complications, length of stay, 30-day readmissions, need for supported discharge, and 90-day costs of care. Results The 7,352 participants (2.8%) who had a preoperative geriatric evaluation had longer 90-day survival than those who who did not (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.81, 95% confidence interval = 0.68-0.95). Length of stay and complication rates did not differ between groups, but participants evaluated by a geriatrician preoperatively had higher rates of supported discharge, readmission rates, and costs of care. Sensitivity analyses supported the association between preoperative geriatric assessment and 90-day survival. Conclusion In individuals aged 65 and older undergoing major, elective, noncardiac surgery, preoperative geriatric evaluation was associated with longer 90-day survival, but it is used infrequently. Given these results, and those of previous small studies, the influence of a geriatric evaluation on postoperative outcomes should be determined in a multicenter randomized trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Frailty is a risk factor for adverse postoperative outcomes. Hospitals that perform higher volumes of surgery have better outcomes than low-volume providers. We hypothesized that frail patients undergoing elective surgery at hospitals that cared for a higher volume of similarly frail patients would have improved outcomes.Methods: We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study using linked administrative data in Ontario, Canada. We identified all adult major, elective noncardiac surgery patients who were frail according to the validated Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups (ACG) frailty-defining diagnoses indicator. Hospitals were categorized into frailty volume quintiles based on volumes of frail surgical patients cared for. Multilevel, multivariable modeling measured the association of frailty volume with 30-day survival (primary outcome), complications, failure to rescue (secondary outcomes), and costs (tertiary outcome).Results: Of 63,381 frail patients, 708 (1.1%) died after surgery. The thirty-day mortality rate in the lowest volume quintile was 1.1% compared to 0.9% in the highest. After adjustment for surgical risk, demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and clustering within hospitals, we found a significant association between frailty volume and improved survival (highest volume vs. lowest volume quintile: hazard ratio 0.51; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.74; P < 0.0001). Although complication rates did not vary significantly between hospitals, failure-to-rescue rates were inversely related to volume.Conclusions: Frail patients have reduced survival and increased failure to rescue when they undergo operations at hospitals having a lower volume of frail surgical patients. Concentration of perioperative care in centers that frequently treat high-risk frail patients could improve population outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although peripheral nerve blocks decrease pain after total knee arthroplasty, the population-level impact of nerve blocks on arthroplasty resource utilization is unknown.Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using linked administrative data from Ontario, Canada. We identified all adults having their first primary knee arthroplasty between 2002 and 2013. Using propensity scores to adjust for measureable confounders, we matched nerve block patients to a patient who did not receive a block. Within the matched cohort, we estimated the independent association of blocks with outcomes (length of hospital stay [primary]; and readmissions, emergency department visits, and falls [secondary]).Results: One hundred seventy-eight thousand two hundred fourteen patients were identified; 61,588 (34.6%) had a block. The mean hospital stay was 4.6 days with a block compared to 4.8 without. After matching, there was a statistically significant decrease in the length of stay in the block group (relative risk, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97 to 0.99; P < 0.001). Blocks were associated with a significant decrease in readmissions (relative risk, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79 to 0.88; P < 0.001) but not emergency department visits (relative risk, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.05) or falls (relative risk, 1.37; 95% CI, 0.90 to 2.08). The association of blocks with length of stay after 2008 was inconsistent; overall, they were associated with longer stays; however, single-shot blocks were associated with shorter stays, while continuous techniques prolonged the length of stay.Conclusions: Nerve blocks in total knee arthroplasty patients were associated with statistically significant reductions in length of stay and readmissions, but not emergency department visits or falls. The significance of these findings at the patient level and in contemporary practice requires further exploration in prospective randomized studies at low risk of indication bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preoperative anaemia is common in patient undergoing colorectal surgery. Understanding the population-level costs of preoperative anaemia will inform development and evaluation of anaemia management at health system levels. This was a population-based cohort study using linked, routinely collected data, including residents from Ontario, Canada, aged ≥18 yr who underwent an elective colorectal resection between 2012 and 2022. Primary exposure was preoperative anaemia (haemoglobin <130 g L−1 in males; <120 g L−1 in females). Primary outcome was 30-day costs in 2022 Canadian dollars (CAD), from the perspective of a publicly funded healthcare system. Secondary outcomes included red blood cell transfusion, major adverse events (MAEs), length of stay (LOS), days alive at home (DAH), and readmissions. We included 54,286 patients, with mean 65.3 (range 18–102) years of age and 49.0% females, among which 21 264 (39.2%) had preoperative anaemia. There was an absolute adjusted cost increase of $2671 per person at 30 days after surgery attributable to preoperative anaemia (ratio of means [RoM] 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.06). Compared with the control group, 30-day risks of transfusion (odds ratio [OR] 4.34, 95% CI 4.04–4.66), MAEs (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03–1.27), LOS (RoM 1.08, 95% CI 1.07–1.10), and readmissions (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.08–1.24) were higher in the anaemia group, with reduced DAH (RoM 0.95, 95% CI 0.95–0.96). Approximately $2671 CAD per person in 30-day health system costs are attributable to preoperative anaemia after colorectal surgery in Ontario, Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgical volumes and use of preoperative anaesthesia consultations are increasing. However, contemporary data estimating the association between preoperative anaesthesia consultation and patient (days alive and at home [DAH 30 ], mortality) and system (costs, length of stay, and readmissions) outcomes are not available. We conducted a population-based comparative effectiveness study using linked health administrative data among patients aged ≥40 yr who underwent intermediate-risk to high-risk elective, inpatient, noncardiac surgery in Ontario, Canada (2009–17). Our primary outcome was DAH 30. Secondary outcomes included DAH 90 , 30-day and 1-yr mortality, 30-day health system costs, length of index admission, and 30-day readmissions. Propensity score overlap weights were used to adjust for confounders. Prespecified effect modifier analyses focused on high-risk subgroups. Among 364 149 patients, 274 365 (75.3%) received a preoperative anaesthesia consultation. No adjusted association was found (22.5 days vs 22.5 days; adjusted ratio of means 1.00, 95% CI 1.00–1.00) between consultation and DAH 30 in the full population. We identified significant effect modification (significantly more DAH 30) among patients with ischaemic heart disease, ASA physical status ≥4, frailty index score ≥0.21, and who underwent vascular surgery. Secondary outcomes were associated with preoperative consultation, including greater DAH 90 , decreased length of stay, lower 30-day and 1-yr mortality, and reduced 30-day costs. Preoperative anaesthesia consultation was not associated with greater DAH 30 across the overall study population. However, important potential benefits were observed among high-risk subgroups. Research is needed to identify optimal patient populations and consultation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty is an established risk factor for morbidity and mortality in older patients undergoing surgery. In people with critical illness before surgery, few data describe patient-centred outcomes. Our objective was to estimate the association of frailty with postoperative days alive at home in older critically ill patients requiring emergency general surgery.Methods: A retrospective population-based cohort study was conducted using linked administrative health data in Ontario, Canada from 2009 to 2019. All individuals aged ≥66 yr with an ICU admission before emergency general surgery were included. We compared the count of days alive at home at 30 and 365 days after surgery based on frailty status using a validated, multidimensional index. Unadjusted and multilevel, multivariable adjusted effect estimates were calculated. A sensitivity analysis based on early recovery category was performed.Results: We identified 7003 eligible patients; 2063 (29.5%) lived with frailty. At 30 days, mean days alive at home with frailty were 4.5 (standard deviation 8.2) and 7.6 (standard deviation 10.2) in those without frailty. In adjusted analysis, frailty was associated with fewer days alive at home at 30 (ratio of means [RoM] 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.60-0.78; P<0.001) and 365 days (RoM 0.72; 95% CI: 0.64-0.82; P<0.001). Individuals with frailty had a higher probability of poor recovery status, with effects increasing across the first postoperative month.Conclusions: In patients with critical illness requiring emergency general surgery, frailty is associated with fewer days alive at home. This information should be discussed with critically ill patients before emergent surgical intervention to better inform decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Older people (≥65 yr) are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality after emergency general surgery. Risk prediction models are needed to guide decision making in this high-risk population. Existing models have substantial limitations and lack external validation, potentially limiting their applicability in clinical use. We aimed to derive and validate, both internally and externally, a multivariable model to predict 30-day mortality risk in older patients undergoing emergency general surgery.Methods: After protocol publication, we used the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database (2012-6; estimated to contain 90% data from the USA and 10% from Canada) to derive and internally validate a model to predict 30-day mortality for older people having emergency general surgery using logistic regression with elastic net regularisation. Internal validation was done with 10-fold cross-validation. External validation was done using a temporally separate health administrative database exclusively from Ontario, Canada.Results: Overall, 6012 (12.0%) of the 50 221 patients died within 30 days. The model demonstrated strong discrimination (area under the curve [AUC]=0.871) and calibration across the spectrum of observed and predicted risks. Ten-fold internal cross-validation demonstrated minimal optimism (AUC=0.851, optimism 0.019 [standard deviation=0.06]) with excellent calibration. External validation demonstrated lower discrimination (AUC=0.700) and degraded calibration.Conclusion: A multivariable mortality risk prediction model was strongly discriminative and well calibrated internally. However, poor external validation suggests the model may not be generalisable to non-NSQIP data and hospitals. The findings highlight the importance of external validation before clinical application of risk models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty is associated with poor postoperative outcomes, but existing data do not describe frailty's interaction with tumour characteristics at the time of cancer surgery. Our objective was to estimate the association between frailty and long-term survival, and to explore any interaction with tumour stage and grade.Methods: This was a population-based cohort study conducted using linked provincial health administrative data in Ontario, Canada (2009-20). Using a cancer registry, we identified adults having elective cancer surgery. Frailty was measured using a validated index (range 0-1; higher score=greater frailty). Associations between frailty and long-term postoperative survival (primary outcome) were estimated using proportional hazards regression. Secondary outcomes were length of stay, discharge destination, days alive at home, and healthcare costs.Results: We identified and included 52 012 patients. Mean frailty score was 0.13 (standard deviation 0.07). During follow-up, 19 378 (37.3%) patients died. After adjustment for risk factors, each 10% increase in frailty was associated with a 1.60-fold relative decrease in survival (95% confidence interval: 1.56-1.64). The frailty-survival association was strongest for patients with lower stage and grade cancers. Increased frailty was associated with longer hospital stays (3 days), fewer days alive and at home (42 days yr-1), more frequent discharge to a nursing facility (2.38-fold), and increased healthcare costs ($6048).Conclusions: Patient frailty is associated with decreased long-term survival after cancer surgery. The association is stronger for early-stage and -grade cancers, which would otherwise have a better survival prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unwarranted variation in anaesthesia practice is associated with adverse outcomes. Despite high-certainty evidence of benefit, a minority of hip fracture surgery patients receive a peripheral nerve block. Our objective was to estimate variation in peripheral nerve block use at the hospital, anaesthetist, and patient levels, while identifying predictors of peripheral nerve block use in hip fracture patients.Methods: After protocol registration (https://osf.io/48bvp/), we conducted a population-based cross-sectional study using linked administrative data in Ontario, Canada. We included adults >65 yr of age having emergency hip fracture surgery from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2018. Logistic mixed models were used to estimate the variation in peripheral nerve block use attributable to hospital-, anaesthetist-, and patient-level factors with use of peripheral nerve block, quantified using the variance partition coefficient and median odds ratio. Predictors of peripheral nerve block use were estimated and temporally validated.Results: Of 50 950 patients, 9144 (18.5%) received a peripheral nerve block within 1 day of surgery. Patient-level factors accounted for 14% of variation, whereas 42% and 44% were attributable to the hospital and anaesthetist providing care, respectively. The median odds ratio for receiving a peripheral nerve block was 5.73 at the hospital level and 5.97 at the anaesthetist level. No patient factors had large associations with receipt of a peripheral nerve block (odds ratios significant at the 5% level ranged from 0.86 to 1.35).Conclusions: Patient factors explain the minimal variation in peripheral nerve block use for hip fracture surgery. Interventions to increase uptake of peripheral nerve blocks for hip fracture patients will likely need to focus on structures and processes at the hospital and anaesthetist levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sex-based disparities in cardiovascular outcomes may be improved with appropriate hypertension management., Objective: To compare the evidence-based evaluation and management of females with late-onset hypertension compared to males in the contemporary era., Methods: Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study., Setting: Ontario, Canada., Participants: Residents aged ≥66 years with newly diagnosed hypertension between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2017., Exposure: Sex (female vs. male)., Outcomes and Measures: We used Poisson and logistic regression to estimate adjusted sex-attributable differences in the performance of guideline-recommended lab investigations. We estimated adjusted differences in time to the prescription of, and type of, first antihypertensive medication prescribed between females and males, using Cox regression., Results: Among 111,410 adults (mean age 73 years, 53% female, median follow-up 6.8 years), females underwent a similar number of guideline-recommended investigations (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 0.997 [95% confidence interval [CI] 0.99-1.002]) compared to males. Females were also as likely to complete all investigations (0.70% females, 0.77% males; adjusted odds ratio, 0.96 [95% CI 0.83-1.11]). Females were slightly less likely to be prescribed medication (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.98 [95% CI 0.96-0.99]) or, among those prescribed, less likely to be prescribed first-line medication (aHR, 0.995 [95% CI 0.994-0.997])., Conclusions: Compared to males, females with late-onset hypertension were equally likely to complete initial investigations with comparable prescription rates. These findings suggest that there may be no clinically meaningful sex-based differences in the initial management of late-onset hypertension to explain sex-based disparities in cardiovascular outcomes., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Internal Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Publication of The Journal of Internal Medicine.)

Background: It is unclear whether sex-based differences in cardiovascular outcomes exist in late-onset hypertension., Methods: This is a population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada of 266 273 adults, aged ≥66 years with newly diagnosed hypertension. We determined the incidence of the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (myocardial infarction, stroke, and congestive heart failure), all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular death by sex using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for demographic factors and comorbidities., Results: The mean age of the total cohort was 74 years, and 135 531 (51%) were female. Over a median follow-up of 6.6 (4.7-9.0) years, females experienced a lower crude incidence rate (per 1000 person-years) than males for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (287.3 versus 311.7), death (238.4 versus 251.4), and cardiovascular death (395.7 versus 439.6), P <0.001. The risk of primary composite cardiovascular outcome was lower among females (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.75 [95% CI, 0.73-0.76]; P <0.001) than in males. This was consistent after adjusting for the competing risk of all-cause death with a subdistributional hazard ratio, 0.88 ([95% CI, 0.86-0.91]; P <0.001)., Conclusions: Females had a lower risk of cardiovascular outcomes compared with males within a population characterized by advanced age and new hypertension. Our results highlight that the severity of outcomes is influenced by sex in relation to the age at which hypertension is diagnosed. Further studies are required to identify sex-specific variations in the diagnosis and management of late-onset hypertension due to its high incidence in this group., Competing Interests: Disclosures A.J. Vinson has accepted consultancy funding from Paladin Labs, Inc, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The other authors report no conflicts.

Purpose: In 2013, Ontario introduced a patient-based funding model for hip fracture care (Quality-Based Procedures [QBP]). The association of QBP implementation with changes in processes and outcomes has not been evaluated., Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study using linked health data for adult hip fractures as an interrupted time series. The pre-QBP period was from 2008 to 2012 and the post-QBP period was from 2014 to 2018; 2013 was excluded as a wash-in period. We used segmented regression analyses to estimate the association of QBP implementation with changes in processes (surgery in less than two days from admission, use of echocardiography, use of nerve blocks, and provision of geriatric care) and clinical outcomes (90-day mortality, 90-day readmissions, length of stay, and days alive at home). We estimated the immediate (level) change, trend (slope) postimplementation, and total counterfactual differences. Sensitivity analyses included case-mix adjustment and stratification by hospital type and procedure., Results: We identified 45,500 patients in the pre-QBP period and 41,256 patients in the post-QBP period. There was a significant total counterfactual increase in the use of nerve blocks (11.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.2 to 16.0) and a decrease in the use of echocardiography (-2.5%; 95% CI, -3.7 to -1.3) after QBP implementation. The implementation of QBP was not associated with a clinically or statistically meaningful change in 90-day mortality, 90-day readmission, length of stay, or number of days alive at home., Conclusion: Evaluation of the QBP program is crucial to inform ongoing and future changes to policy and funding for hip fracture care. The introduction of the QBP Hip Fracture program, supported by evidence-based recommendations, was associated with improved application of some evidence-based processes of care but no changes in clinical outcomes. There is a need for ongoing development and evaluation of funding models to identify optimal strategies to improve the value and outcomes of hip fracture care., Study Registration: Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/2938h/ ); first posted 13 June 2022., (© 2024. Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.)

Purpose: As Canadian health systems experience greater pressure to deliver timely perioperative care, public opinion is likely to influence health care policy decisions. Since Canadian public perception of anesthesiologists is unknown, the goal of this Canadian-wide survey was to begin to quantify public opinion regarding anesthesiologists in Canada., Methods: The Maru/Blue international market research group was contracted to survey the Canadian public on their perceptions of anesthesiologists. The anonymous bilingual polling surveys were presented to consenting Canadians, who earn credits from Maru/Blue that provide financial reward for participation, by means of an online survey tool. Results were weighted by education, age, sex, region, and language to match census data with an estimated margin of error of ± 3.0%, 19 times out of 20., Results: In August 2020, 1,511 randomly selected consenting Canadian adults recruited by the Maru/Blue research group in all ten provinces answered five sequential questions with variably presented answers. A total of 812 (54%) respondents identified as female. Most participants were from Ontario (38%) and Quebec (24%). The majority of participants, 778 (52%), were over 55 yr of age, with 496 (33%) having an annual income of between CAD 50,000 and 100,000. Only 41% (624/1,511) of respondents identified the most responsible anesthesia provider as a physician, with the next most frequent response being that the anesthesia provider was unknown (350/1,511; 23%). The median [interquartile range] impression of anesthesiologists was favourable [favourable-somewhat favourable], with 310/1,511 (21%) expressing an unknown impression., Conclusions: Over half of surveyed Canadians did not identify the most responsible anesthesia provider as a physician., (© 2023. Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.)

Objective: To compare predictive accuracy of frailty instruments operationalizable in electronic data for prognosticating outcomes among older adults undergoing emergency general surgery (EGS)., Background: Older patients undergoing EGS are at higher risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality. Preoperative frailty is a common and strong perioperative risk factor in this population. Despite this, existing barriers preclude routine preoperative frailty assessment., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adults above 65 undergoing EGS from 2012 to 2018 using Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) provincial healthcare data in Ontario, Canada. We compared 4 frailty instruments: Frailty Index (FI), Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS), Risk Analysis Index-Administrative (RAI), ACG Frailty-defining diagnoses indicator (ACG). We compared predictive accuracy beyond baseline risk models (age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists' score, procedural risk). Predictive performance was measured using discrimination, calibration, explained variance, net reclassification index and Brier score (binary outcomes); using explained variance, root mean squared error and mean absolute prediction error (continuous outcomes). Primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were 365-day mortality, nonhome discharge, days alive at home, length of stay, and 30-day and 365-day health systems cost., Results: A total of 121,095 EGS patients met inclusion criteria. Of these, 11,422 (9.4%) experienced death 30 days postoperatively. Addition of FI, HFRS, and RAI to the baseline model led to improved discrimination, net reclassification index, and R2 ; RAI demonstrated the largest improvements., Conclusions: Adding 4 frailty instruments to typically assessed preoperative risk factors demonstrated strong predictive performance in accurately prognosticating perioperative outcomes. These findings can be considered in developing automated risk stratification systems among older EGS patients., Competing Interests: A.L.G. has received the Residents’ Research Operating Grant (CAS-2021-038) from the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Patients with frailty consistently experience higher rates of perioperative morbidity and mortality; however, costs attributable to frailty remain poorly defined. This study sought to identify older patients with and without frailty using a validated, multidimensional frailty index and estimated the attributable costs in the year after major, elective noncardiac surgery., Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study of all patients 66 yr or older having major, elective noncardiac surgery between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2018, using linked health data obtained from an independent research institute (ICES) in Ontario, Canada. All data were collected using standard methods from the date of surgery to the end of 1-yr follow-up. The presence or absence of preoperative frailty was determined using a multidimensional frailty index. The primary outcome was total health system costs in the year after surgery using a validated patient-level costing method capturing direct and indirect costs. Secondary outcomes included costs to postoperative days 30 and 90 along with sensitivity analyses and evaluation of effect modifiers., Results: Of 171,576 patients, 23,219 (13.5%) were identified with preoperative frailty. Unadjusted costs were higher among patients with frailty (ratio of means 1.79, 95% CI 1.76 to 1.83). After adjusting for confounders, an absolute cost increase of $11,828 Canadian dollar (ratio of means 1.53; 95% CI, 1.51 to 1.56) was attributable to frailty. This association was attenuated with additional control for comorbidities (ratio of means 1.24, 95% CI, 1.22 to 1.26). Among contributors to total costs, frailty was most strongly associated with increased postacute care costs., Conclusions: For patients with preoperative frailty having elective surgery, the authors estimate that attributable costs are increased 1.5-fold in the year after major, elective noncardiac surgery. These data inform resource allocation for patients with frailty., (Copyright © 2023 American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.)

Background: Physicians were directed to prioritize using nonsurgical cancer treatment at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to quantify the impact of this policy on the modality of first cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or no treatment)., Methods: In this population-based study using Ontario data from linked administrative databases, we identified adults diagnosed with cancer from January 2016 to November 2020 and their first cancer treatment received within 1 year postdiagnosis. Segmented Poisson regressions were applied to each modality to estimate the change in mean 1-year recipient volume per thousand patients (rate) at the start of the pandemic (the week of Mar. 15, 2020) and change in the weekly trend in rate during the pandemic (Mar. 15, 2020, to Nov. 7, 2020) relative to before the pandemic (Jan. 3, 2016, to Mar. 14, 2020)., Results: We included 321 535 people diagnosed with cancer. During the first week of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mean rate of receiving upfront surgery over the next year declined by 9% (rate ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.88-0.95), and chemotherapy and radiotherapy rates rose by 30% (rate ratio 1.30, 95% CI 1.23-1.36) and 13% (rate ratio 1.13, 95% CI 1.07-1.19), respectively. Subsequently, the 1-year rate of upfront surgery increased at 0.4% for each week (rate ratio 1.004, 95% CI 1.002-1.006), and chemotherapy and radiotherapy rates decreased by 0.9% (rate ratio 0.991, 95% CI 0.989-0.994) and 0.4% (rate ratio 0.996, 95% CI 0.994-0.998), respectively, per week. Rates of each modality resumed to prepandemic levels at 24-31 weeks into the pandemic., Interpretation: An immediate and sustained increase in use of nonsurgical therapy as the first cancer treatment occurred during the first 8 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. Further research is needed to understand the consequences., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Jonathan Irish is a member of the Canadian Cancer Society and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. Natalie Coburn is the clinical lead for patient-reported outcomes and symptom management at Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). Julie Hallet reports receiving speaking honoraria from Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Advanced Accelerator Applications, Medtronic and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Monika Krzyzanowska reports receiving consulting fees from Lilly and Ipsen and attending the advisory boards of Ipsen and Bayer. Alexander Louie reports receiving speaking honoraria and being on the advisory board of AstraZeneca. Nicole Look Hong reports receiving consulting fees from MOLLI Surgical. Daniel McIsaac is on the advisory board of the PRICE 2 Trial and is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiology Committee on Geriatric Anesthesia. No other competing interests were declared., (© 2023 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors.)

Background: Little is known about the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and early survival among newly diagnosed cancer patients., Methods: This retrospective population-based cohort study used linked administrative datasets from Ontario, Canada. Adults (≥18 years) who received a cancer diagnosis between March 15 and December 31, 2020, were included in a pandemic cohort, while those diagnosed during the same dates in 2018/2019 were included in a pre-pandemic cohort. All patients were followed for one full year after the date of diagnosis. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess survival in relation to the pandemic, patient characteristics at diagnosis, and the modality of first cancer treatment as a time-varying covariate. Interaction terms were explored to measure the pandemic association with survival for each cancer type., Results: Among 179,746 patients, 53,387 (29.7%) were in the pandemic cohort and 37,741 (21.0%) died over the first post-diagnosis year. No association between the pandemic and survival was found when adjusting for patient characteristics at diagnosis (HR 0.99 [95% CI 0.96-1.01]), while marginally better survival was found for the pandemic cohort when the modality of treatment was additionally considered (HR 0.97 [95% CI 0.95-0.99]). When examining each cancer type, only a new melanoma diagnosis was associated with a worse survival in the pandemic cohort (HR 1.25 [95% CI 1.05-1.49])., Conclusions: Among patients able to receive a cancer diagnosis during the pandemic, one-year overall survival was not different than those diagnosed in the previous 2 years. This study highlights the complex nature of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on cancer care., (© 2023 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Importance: It is uncertain whether preoperative medical consultation reduces adverse postoperative clinical outcomes., Objective: To investigate the association of preoperative medical consultation with reduction in adverse postoperative outcomes and use of processes of care., Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a retrospective cohort study using linked administrative databases from an independent research institute housing routinely collected health data for Ontario's 14 million residents, including sociodemographic features, physician characteristics and services, and receipt of inpatient and outpatient care. The study sample included Ontario residents aged 40 years or older who underwent their first qualifying intermediate- to high-risk noncardiac operation. Propensity score matching was used to adjust for differences between patients who did and did not undergo preoperative medical consultation with discharge dates between April 1, 2005, and March 31, 2018. The data were analyzed from December 20, 2021, to May 15, 2022., Exposures: Receipt of preoperative medical consultation in the 4 months preceding the index surgery., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was 30-day all-cause postoperative mortality. Secondary outcomes included 1-year mortality, inpatient myocardial infarction and stroke, in-hospital mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and 30-day health system costs., Results: Of the total 530 473 individuals (mean [SD] age, 67.1 [10.6] years; 278 903 [52.6%] female) included in the study, 186 299 (35.1%) received preoperative medical consultation. Propensity score matching resulted in 179 809 well-matched pairs (67.8% of the full cohort). The 30-day mortality rate was 0.9% (n = 1534) in the consultation group and 0.7% (n = 1299) in the control group (odds ratio [OR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.11-1.29). The ORs for 1 year mortality (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.11-1.19), inpatient stroke (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.06-1.37), in-hospital mechanical ventilation (OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.31-1.45), and 30-day emergency department visits (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.05-1.09) were higher in the consultation group; however, the rates of inpatient myocardial infarction did not differ. The lengths of stay in acute care were a mean (SD) 6.0 (9.3) days in the consultation group and 5.6 (10.0) days in the control group (difference, 0.4 [95% CI, 0.3-0.5] days), and the median (IQR) total 30-day health system cost was CAD $317 ($229-$959) (US $235 [$170-$711]) higher in the consultation group. Preoperative medical consultation was associated with increased use of preoperative echocardiography (OR, 2.64; 95% CI, 2.59-2.69) and cardiac stress tests (OR, 2.50; 95% CI, 2.43-2.56) and higher odds of receiving a new prescription for β-blockers (OR, 2.96; 95% CI, 2.82-3.12)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, preoperative medical consultation was not associated with a reduction but rather with an increase in adverse postoperative outcomes, suggesting a need for further refinement of target populations, processes, and interventions related to preoperative medical consultation. These findings highlight the need for further research and suggest that referral for preoperative medical consultation and subsequent testing should be carefully guided by individual-level consideration of risks and benefits.

Importance: The surgeon-anesthesiologist teamwork and relationship is crucial to good patient outcomes. Familiarity among work team members is associated with enhanced success in multiple fields but rarely studied in the operating room., Objective: To examine the association between surgeon-anesthesiologist dyad familiarity-as the number of times working together-with short-term postoperative outcomes for complex gastrointestinal cancer surgery., Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based retrospective cohort study based in Ontario, Canada, included adults undergoing esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, and hepatectomy for cancer from 2007 through 2018. The data were analyzed January 1, 2007, through December 21, 2018., Exposures: Dyad familiarity captured as the annual volume of procedures of interest done by the surgeon-anesthesiologist dyad in the 4 years before the index surgery., Main Outcomes and Measures: Ninety-day major morbidity (any Clavien-Dindo grade 3 to 5). The association between exposure and outcome was examined using multivariable logistic regression., Results: Seven thousand eight hundred ninety-three patients with a median age of 65 years (66.3% men) were included. They were cared for by 737 anesthesiologists and 163 surgeons who were also included. The median surgeon-anesthesiologist dyad volume was 1 (range, 0-12.2) procedures per year. Ninety-day major morbidity occurred in 43.0% of patients. There was a linear association between dyad volume and 90-day major morbidity. After adjustment, the annual dyad volume was independently associated with lower odds of 90-day major morbidity, with an odds ratio of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92-0.98; P = .01) for each incremental procedure per year, per dyad. The results did not change when examining 30-day major morbidity., Conclusions and Relevance: Among adults undergoing complex gastrointestinal cancer surgery, increasing familiarity of the surgeon-anesthesiologist dyad was associated with improved short-term patient outcomes. For each additional time that a unique surgeon-anesthesiologist dyad worked together, the odds of 90-day major morbidity decreased by 5%. These findings support organizing perioperative care to increase the familiarity of surgeon-anesthesiologist dyads.

Background: The Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS) is scored using ICD-10 diagnostic codes in administrative hospital records. Home care clients in Canada are routinely assessed with Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care (RAI-HC) which can calculate the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and the Frailty Index (FI)., Objective: Measure the correlation between the HFRS, CFS and FI and compare prognostic utility for frailty-related outcomes., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting: Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, Canada., Subjects: Home care clients aged 65+ admitted to hospital within 180 days (median 65 days) of a RAI-HC assessment (n = 167,316)., Methods: Correlation between the HFRS, CFS and FI was measured using the Spearman correlation coefficient. Prognostic utility of each measure was assessed by comparing measures of association, discrimination and calibration for mortality (30 days), prolonged hospital stay (10+ days), unplanned hospital readmission (30 days) and long-term care admission (1 year)., Results: The HFRS was weakly correlated with the FI (ρ 0.21) and CFS (ρ 0.28). Unlike the FI and CFS, the HFRS was unable to discriminate for 30-day mortality (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) 0.506; confidence interval (CI) 0.502-0.511). It was the only measure that could discriminate for prolonged hospital stay (AUC 0.666; CI 0.661-0.673). The HFRS operated like the FI and CFI when predicting unplanned readmission (AUC 0.530 CI 0.526-0.536) and long-term care admission (AUC 0.600; CI 0.593-0.606)., Conclusions: The HFRS identifies a different subset of older adult home care clients as frail than the CFS and FI. It has prognostic utility for several frailty-related outcomes in this population, except short-term mortality., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is common among surgical patients, and patients with COPD have higher risk for complications and death within 30 days after surgery. We sought to describe the longer-term postoperative survival and costs of patients with COPD compared with those without COPD within 1 year after inpatient elective surgery., Methods: In this retrospective population-based cohort study, we used linked health administrative databases to identify all patients undergoing inpatient elective surgery in Ontario, Canada, from 2005 to 2019. We ascertained COPD status using validated definitions. We followed participants for 1 year after surgery to evaluate survival and costs to the health system. We quantified the association of COPD with survival (Cox proportional hazards models) and costs (linear regression model with log-transformed costs) with partial adjustment (for sociodemographic factors and procedure type) and full adjustment (also adjusting for comorbidities). We assessed for effect modification by frailty, cancer and procedure type., Results: We included 932 616 patients, of whom 170 482 (18%) had COPD. With respect to association with risk of death, COPD had a partially adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.61 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.58-1.64), and a fully adjusted HR of 1.26 (95% CI 1.24-1.29). With respect to impact on health system costs, COPD was associated with a partially adjusted relative increase of 13.1% (95% CI 12.7%-13.4%), and an increase of 4.6% (95% CI 4.3%-5.0%) with full adjustment. Frailty, cancer and procedure type (such as orthopedic and lower abdominal surgery) modified the association between COPD and outcomes., Interpretation: Patients with COPD have decreased survival and increased costs in the year after surgery. Frailty, cancer and the type of surgical procedure modified associations between COPD and outcomes, and must be considered when risk-stratifying surgical patients with COPD., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Daniel McIsaac reports participation on the data safety monitoring board of the PRICE-2 trial. Andrea Gershon reports funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and PSI Foundation, as well as a stipend from Novartis. No other competing interests were declared., (© 2023 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors.)

Importance: The impact of COVID-19 on the modality and timeliness of first-line cancer treatment is unclear yet critical to the planning of subsequent care., Objective: To explore the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with modalities of and wait times for first cancer treatment., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective population-based cohort study using administrative data was conducted in Ontario, Canada, among adults newly diagnosed with cancer between January 3, 2016, and November 7, 2020. Participants were followed up from date of diagnosis for 1 year, until death, or until June 26, 2021, whichever occurred first, to ensure a minimum of 6-month follow-up time., Exposures: Receiving a cancer diagnosis in the pandemic vs prepandemic period, using March 15, 2020, the date when elective hospital procedures were halted., Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was a time-to-event variable describing number of days from date of diagnosis to date of receiving first cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation) or to being censored. For each treatment modality, a multivariable competing-risk regression model was used to assess the association between time to treatment and COVID-19 period. A secondary continuous outcome was defined for patients who were treated 6 months after diagnosis as the waiting time from date of diagnosis to date of treatment., Results: Among 313 499 patients, the mean (SD) age was 66.4 (14.1) years and 153 679 (49.0%) were male patients. Those who were diagnosed during the pandemic were less likely to receive surgery first (subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR], 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.99) but were more likely to receive chemotherapy (sHR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.23-1.30) or radiotherapy (sHR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.13-1.20) first. Among patients who received treatment within 6 months from diagnosis (228 755 [73.0%]), their mean (SD) waiting time decreased from 35.1 (37.2) days to 29.5 (33.6) days for surgery, from 43.7 (34.1) days to 38.4 (30.6) days for chemotherapy, and from 55.8 (41.8) days to 49.0 (40.1) days for radiotherapy., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, the pandemic was significantly associated with greater use of nonsurgical therapy as initial cancer treatment. Wait times were shorter in the pandemic period for those treated within 6 months of diagnosis. Future work needs to examine how these changes may have affected patient outcomes to inform future pandemic guideline development.

Background: Although neuraxial anesthesia may promote improved outcomes for patients undergoing lower limb revascularization surgery, its use is decreasing over time. Our objective was to estimate variation in neuraxial (versus general) anesthesia use for lower limb revascularization at the hospital, anesthesiologist, surgeon, and patient levels, which could inform strategies to increase uptake., Methods: Following protocol registration, we conducted a historical cross-sectional analysis of population-based linked health administrative data in Ontario, Canada. All adults undergoing lower limb revascularization surgery between 2009 and 2018 were identified. Generalized linear models with binomial response distributions, logit links and random intercepts for hospitals, anesthesiologists, and surgeons were used to estimate the variation in neuraxial anesthesia use at the hospital, anesthesiologist, surgeon, and patient levels using variance partition coefficients and median odds ratios. Patient- and hospital-level predictors of neuraxial anesthesia use were identified., Results: We identified 11,849 patients; 3489 (29.4%) received neuraxial anesthesia. The largest proportion of variation was attributable to the hospital level (50.3%), followed by the patient level (35.7%); anesthesiologists and surgeons had small attributable variation (11.3% and 2.8%, respectively). Mean odds ratio estimates suggested that 2 similar patients would experience a 5.7-fold difference in their odds of receiving a neuraxial anesthetic were they randomly sent to 2 different hospitals. Results were consistent in sensitivity analyses, including limiting analysis to patients with diagnosed peripheral artery disease and separately to those aged >66 years with complete prescription anticoagulant and antiplatelet usage data., Conclusions: Neuraxial anesthesia use primarily varies at the hospital level. Efforts to promote use of neuraxial anesthesia for lower limb revascularization should likely focus on the hospital context., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: See Disclosures at the end of the article., (Copyright © 2022 International Anesthesia Research Society.)

No population-based study exists to demonstrate the full-spectrum impact of COVID-19 on hindering incident cancer detection in a large cancer system. Building upon our previous publication in JNCCN, we conducted an updated analysis using 12 months of new data accrued in the pandemic era (extending the study period from September 26, 2020, to October 2, 2021) to demonstrate how multiple COVID-19 waves affected the weekly cancer incidence volume in Ontario, Canada, and if we have fully cleared the backlog at the end of each wave.

Due to the ramping down of cancer surgery in early pandemic, many newly diagnosed patients received other treatments first. We aimed to quantify the pandemic-related shift in rate of surgery following chemotherapy. This is a retrospective population-based cohort study involving adults diagnosed with cancer between 3 January 2016 and 7 November 2020 in Ontario, Canada who received chemotherapy as first treatment within 6-months of diagnosis. Competing-risks regression models with interaction effects were used to quantify the association between COVID-19 period (receiving a cancer diagnosis before or on/after 15 March 2020) and receipt of surgical reSection 9-months after first chemotherapy. Among 51,653 patients, 8.5% ( n = 19,558) of them ultimately underwent surgery 9-months after chemotherapy initiation. Receipt of surgery was higher during the pandemic than before (sHR 1.07, 95% CI 1.02-1.13). Material deprivation was independently associated with lower receipt of surgery (least vs. most deprived quintile: sHR 1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.17), but did not change with the pandemic. The surgical rate increase was most pronounced for breast cancer (sHR 1.13, 95% CI 1.06-1.20). These pandemic-related shifts in cancer treatment requires further evaluations to understand the long-term consequences. Persistent material deprivation-related inequity in cancer surgical access needs to be addressed.

Background: When patients and physicians speak the same language, it may improve the quality and safety of care delivered. We sought to determine whether patient-physician language concordance is associated with in-hospital and postdischarge outcomes among home care recipients who were admitted to hospital., Methods: We conducted a population-based study of a retrospective cohort of 189 690 home care recipients who were admitted to hospital in Ontario, Canada, between 2010 and 2018. We defined patient language (obtained from home care assessments) as English (Anglophone), French (Francophone) or other (allophone). We obtained physician language from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. We defined hospital admissions as language concordant when patients received more than 50% of their care from physicians who spoke the patients' primary language. We identified in-hospital (adverse events, length of stay, death) and post-discharge outcomes (emergency department visits, readmissions, death within 30 days of discharge). We used regression analyses to estimate the adjusted rate of mean and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of each outcome, stratified by patient language, to assess the impact of language-concordant care within each linguistic group., Results: Allophone patients who received language-concordant care had lower risk of adverse events (adjusted OR 0.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.15-0.43) and in-hospital death (adjusted OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.29-0.66), as well as shorter stays in hospital (adjusted rate of mean 0.74, 95% CI 0.66-0.83) than allophone patients who received language-discordant care. Results were similar for Francophone patients, although the magnitude of the effect was smaller than for allophone patients. Language concordance or discordance of the hospital admission was not associated with significant differences in postdischarge outcomes., Interpretation: Patients who received most of their care from physicians who spoke the patients' primary language had better in-hospital outcomes, suggesting that disparities across linguistic groups could be mitigated by providing patients with language-concordant care., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Claire Kendall reports support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine. Manish Sood reports speaker fees from AstraZeneca. No other competing interests were declared., (© 2022 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors.)

Importance: There is conflicting evidence on the association between intrapartum epidural analgesia and risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring., Objective: To evaluate the association between intrapartum epidural analgesia and the risk of ASD in offspring., Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based cohort study was conducted in Ontario, Canada, using the health and administrative records of singleton live births by vaginal delivery between April 1, 2006, and March 31, 2014. Neonates with less than 24 weeks' gestation or weighing less than 500 g were excluded. Offspring were followed up from 18 months of age until ASD diagnosis, loss to follow-up, or the end of the study (December 31, 2020), whichever occurred first. Exposure, covariate, and outcome data were obtained using provincial health administrative databases., Exposures: Any intrapartum exposure to epidural or combined spinal-epidural analgesia., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was ASD diagnosis after 18 months of age. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) of Cox proportional hazards regression models was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of intrapartum epidural analgesia and ASD in offspring. Offspring head injury was used as a control outcome. Models were adjusted for maternal sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and medical and obstetrical history as well as labor, delivery, and offspring characteristics. Post hoc analyses included restriction to term neonates, a conditional within-mother analysis, exclusion of records with concomitant intrapartum pain management exposures, a complete case analysis, use of an alternative ASD definition, and estimation of the average treatment effect in the treated group., Results: Among the 650 373 mother-offspring pairs included in the study, 418 761 (64.4%) were exposed to intrapartum epidural analgesia. The mean (SD) maternal age at delivery was 29.7 (5.5) years; the offspring had a mean (SD) gestational age at delivery of 39.1 (1.6) weeks and included 329 808 male newborns (50.7%). The exposed and unexposed groups were similar in all maternal and newborn characteristics after IPTW (standardized difference <0.10). Autism spectrum disorder was diagnosed in 7546 offspring (1.8%) of mothers who received intrapartum epidural analgesia (incidence rate, 18.8 [95% CI, 18.4-19.3] per 10 000 person-years) compared with 3234 offspring (1.4%) who were unexposed (incidence rate, 14.4 [95% CI, 13.9-14.9] per 10 000 person-years). The crude HR for ASD associated with intrapartum epidural analgesia was 1.30 (95% CI, 1.25-1.36), and the IPTW-adjusted HR was 1.14 (95% CI, 1.08-1.21). Results did not qualitatively differ in post hoc analyses., Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this study showed that intrapartum epidural analgesia was associated with a small increase in risk for ASD in offspring. The biological plausibility of this association, however, remains unclear, and the finding must be interpreted with caution.

Background: Resource restrictions were established in many jurisdictions to maintain health system capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disrupted healthcare access likely impacted early cancer detection. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the pandemic on weekly reported cancer incidence., Patients and Methods: This was a population-based study involving individuals diagnosed with cancer from September 25, 2016, to September 26, 2020, in Ontario, Canada. Weekly cancer incidence counts were examined using segmented negative binomial regression models. The weekly estimated backlog during the pandemic was calculated by subtracting the observed volume from the projected/expected volume in that week., Results: The cohort consisted of 358,487 adult patients with cancer. At the start of the pandemic, there was an immediate 34.3% decline in the estimated mean cancer incidence volume (relative rate, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.57-0.75), followed by a 1% increase in cancer incidence volume in each subsequent week (relative rate, 1.009; 95% CI, 1.001-1.017). Similar trends were found for both screening and nonscreening cancers. The largest immediate declines were seen for melanoma and cervical, endocrinologic, and prostate cancers. For hepatobiliary and lung cancers, there continued to be a weekly decline in incidence during the COVID-19 period. Between March 15 and September 26, 2020, 12,601 fewer individuals were diagnosed with cancer, with an estimated weekly backlog of 450., Conclusions: We estimate that there is a large volume of undetected cancer cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Incidence rates have not yet returned to prepandemic levels.

Background: There is need to identify perioperative interventions that decrease chronic opioid use. The authors hypothesized that receipt of a peripheral nerve block would be associated with a lower incidence of persistent postoperative opioid prescription fulfillment., Methods: This was a retrospective population-based cohort study examining ambulatory shoulder surgery patients in Ontario, Canada. The main outcome measure was persistent postoperative opioid prescription fulfillment. In opioid-naive patients (no opioid prescription fulfillment in 90 days preoperatively), this was present if an individual fulfilled an opioid prescription of at least a 60-day supply during postoperative days 90 to 365. In opioid-exposed (less than 60 mg oral morphine equivalent dose per day within 90 days preoperatively) or opioid-tolerant (60 mg oral morphine equivalent dose per day or above within 90 days preoperatively) patients, this was classified as present if an individual experienced any increase in opioid prescription fulfillment from postoperative day 90 to 365 relative to their baseline use before surgery. The authors' exposure was the receipt of a peripheral nerve block., Results: The authors identified 48,523 people who underwent elective shoulder surgery from July 1, 2012, to December 31, 2017, at one of 118 Ontario hospitals. There were 8,229 (17%) patients who had persistent postoperative opioid prescription fulfillment. Of those who received a peripheral nerve block, 5,008 (16%) went on to persistent postoperative opioid prescription fulfillment compared to 3,221 (18%) patients who did not (adjusted odds ratio, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83 to 0.97; P = 0.007). This statistically significant observation was not reproduced in a coarsened exact matching sensitivity analysis (adjusted odds ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.71 to 1.02; P = 0.087) or several other subgroup and sensitivity analyses., Conclusions: This retrospective analysis found no association between receipt of a peripheral nerve block and a lower incidence of persistent postoperative opioid prescription fulfillment in ambulatory shoulder surgery patients., (Copyright © 2021, the American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.)

Background: Frailty is characterized by vulnerability to stressors due to an accumulation of multiple functional deficits. Frailty is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for accelerated functional decline, increasing dependency, and risk of mortality. The objective of this study was to examine the association of frailty, at the time of critical care admission, with days alive at home and health care costs post-discharge., Methods: This retrospective cohort study used linked administrative data (2010-2016) in Ontario, Canada. We identified all patients admitted at the intensive care unit (ICU), aged 19 years and above, assessed using the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC), within 6 months prior to index hospitalization including an ICU stay. Patients were stratified as robust, pre-frail, or frail based on a validated Frailty Index. The primary outcome was days alive at home in the year after admission. Secondary outcomes included mortality, health care-associated costs, ICU interventions, long-term care admissions, and hospital readmissions., Results: Frail patients spent significantly fewer days at home within 1 year of index hospitalization (mean 159 days vs 223 days in robust cohort, P < .001). Mortality was higher among frail patients at 1 year (59.6% in the frail cohort vs 45.9% in robust patients; odds ratio for death 1.59 [1.49-1.69]). Frail patients also had higher rates of long-term care admission within 1 year (30.1% vs 10.6% in robust patients). Total health care-associated costs per person alive were $30 450 higher the year after admission in the frail cohort., Conclusions: Frailty prior to ICU admission among patients who were eligible for RAI-HC assessment was associated with higher mortality and fewer days spent at home following admission. Frail patients had markedly higher rates of long-term care admission and increased costs per life saved following critical illness. These findings add to the discussion of risk-benefit trade-offs for ICU admission.

Importance: Intraoperative anesthesiology care is crucial to high-quality surgical care. The clinical expertise and experience of anesthesiologists may decrease the risk of adverse outcomes., Objective: To examine the association between anesthesiologist volume and short-term postoperative outcomes for complex gastrointestinal (GI) cancer surgery., Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based cohort study used administrative health care data sets from various data sources in Ontario, Canada. Adult patients who underwent esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, or hepatectomy for GI cancer from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2018, were eligible. Patients with an invalid identification number, a duplicate surgery record, and missing primary anesthesiologist information were excluded., Exposures: Primary anesthesiologist volume was defined as the annual number of procedures of interest (esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, and hepatectomy) supported by that anesthesiologist in the 2 years before the index surgery. Volume was dichotomized into low-volume and high-volume categories, with 75th percentile or 6 or more procedures per year selected as the cutoff point., Main Outcome and Measures: The primary outcome was a composite of 90-day major morbidity (with a Clavien-Dindo classification grade 3-5) and readmission. Secondary outcomes were individual components of the primary outcome. The association between exposure and outcomes was examined using multivariable logistic regression models, accounting for potential confounders., Results: Of the 8096 patients included, 5369 were men (66.3%) and the median (interquartile range [IQR]) age was 65 (57-72) years. Operations were supported by 842 anesthesiologists and performed by 186 surgeons, and the median (IQR) anesthesiologist volume was 3 (1.5-6) procedures per year. A total of 2166 patients (26.7%) received care from high-volume anesthesiologists. Primary outcome occurred in 36.3% of patients in the high-volume group and 45.7% of patients in the low-volume group. After adjustment, care by high-volume anesthesiologists was independently associated with lower odds of the primary outcome (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.76-0.94), major morbidity (aOR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.75-0.91), unplanned intensive care unit admission (aOR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.76-0.94), but not readmission (aOR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.73-1.05) or mortality (aOR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.84-1.31). E-values analysis indicated that an unmeasured variable would unlikely substantively change the observed risk estimates., Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that, among adults who underwent complex gastrointestinal cancer surgery, those who received care from high-volume anesthesiologists had a lower risk of adverse postoperative outcomes compared with those who received care from low-volume anesthesiologists. These findings support organizing perioperative care to increase anesthesiologist volume to optimize patient outcomes.

Objectives: To examine the association between surgical site infections (SSIs) and hospital readmissions and all-cause mortality, and to estimate the attributable health care costs of SSIs 1 year following surgery., Background: SSIs are a common postoperative complication; the long-term impact of SSI on health outcomes and costs has not been formally evaluated., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all adult patients who underwent surgery at the 1202-bed teaching hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and were included in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database between 2010 and 2015. The study exposure was postoperative SSI. The study outcomes included hospital readmission, all-cause mortality, and health care costs at 1 year (primary) and at 30 days and 90 days (secondary) following surgery., Results: We identified 14,351 patients, including 795 patients with SSIs. Our multivariable analyses that accounted for competing risks demonstrated that at 1-year following the index date, superficial and deep/organ space SSIs were significantly associated with an increase in hospital readmission [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.63, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.39-1.92 and HR = 3.49, (95% CI 2.76-4.17, respectively) and all-cause mortality (HR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.10-1.98 and HR = 2.21, 95% CI 1.44-2.78, respectively]. At 1 year after surgery, patients with superficial and deep/organ space SSIs incurred higher health care costs C$20,648 (95% CI) C$16,980- C$24,112and C$53,075 (95% CI) C$44,628- C$60,936), than non-SSI patients., Conclusion: SSIs, especially deep/organ space SSI, contribute to adverse health outcomes and health care costs across the entire year after surgery. Our findings highlight the importance of effective prevention/monitoring strategies targeting both short- and long-term consequences of SSI., Competing Interests: Ontario Research Fund (RE05-070) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant supported this study. The study design, opinions, results, and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors and are independent from the funding sources. No researcher involved in this study had any declared or otherwise known conflicts of interest. The authors report no conflicts of interest, (Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: To examine the association between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and nocturnal hypoxemia with incident cancer., Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective clinical cohort study using linked clinical and provincial health administrative data on consecutive adults who underwent a diagnostic sleep study between 1994 and 2017 in four academic hospitals (Canada) who were free of cancer at baseline. Cancer status was derived from the Ontario Cancer Registry. Cox cause-specific regressions were utilized to address the objective and to calculate the 10-year absolute risk difference (ARD) in the marginal probability of incident cancer and the number needed to harm (NNH)., Results: Of 33,997 individuals considered, 33,711 with no missing OSA severity were included: median age, 50 years; 58% male; and 23% with severe OSA (apnea-hypopnea index >30). Of the 18,458 individuals with information on sleep time spent with oxygen saturation (SaO 2 ) <90%, 5% spent >30% of sleep with SaO 2 <90% (severe nocturnal hypoxemia). Over a median of 7 years, 2,498 of 33,711 (7%) individuals developed cancer, with an incidence rate of 10.3 (10.0-10.8) per 1,000 person-years. Controlling for confounders, severe OSA was associated with a 15% increased hazard of developing cancer compared with no OSA (HR = 1.15, 1.02-1.30; ARD = 1.28%, 0.20-2.37; and NNH = 78). Severe hypoxemia was associated with about 30% increased hazard (HR = 1.32, 1.08-1.61; ARD = 2.38%, 0.47-4.31; and NNH = 42)., Conclusions: In a large cohort of individuals with suspected OSA free of cancer at baseline, the severity of OSA and nocturnal hypoxemia was independently associated with incident cancer., Impact: These findings suggest the need for more targeted cancer risk awareness in individuals with OSA., (©2020 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Background: Prior studies of rapid response team (RRT) implementation for surgical patients have demonstrated mixed results with respect to reductions in poor outcomes. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of in-hospital mortality and hospital costs among surgical inpatients requiring RRT activation., Methods: We analyzed data prospectively collected from May 2012 to May 2016 at The Ottawa Hospital. We included patients who were at least 18 years of age, who were admitted to hospital, who received either preoperative or postoperative care, and and who required RRT activation. We created a multivariable logistic regression model to describe mortality predictors and a multivariable generalized linear model to describe cost predictors., Results: We included 1507 patients. The in-hospital mortality rate was 15.9%. The patient-related factors most strongly associated with mortality included an Elixhauser Comorbidity Index score of 20 or higher (odds ratio [OR] 3.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.96-6.60) and care designations excluding admission to the intensive care unit and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (OR 3.52, 95% CI 2.25-5.52). The strongest surgical predictors included neurosurgical admission (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.17-3.75), emergent surgery (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.37-3.03) and occurrence of 2 or more operations (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.21-2.46). Among RRT factors, occurrence of 2 or more RRT assessments (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.44-2.80) conferred the highest mortality. Increased cost was strongly associated with admitting service, multiple surgeries, multiple RRT assessments and medical comorbidity., Conclusion: RRT activation among surgical inpatients identifies a population at high risk of death. We identified several predictors of mortality and cost, which represent opportunities for future quality improvement and patient safety initiatives., Competing Interests: Andrew Seely holds patents related to multiorgan variability analysis and is the founder and CEO of Therapeutic Monitoring Systems Inc. No other competing interests were declared., (© 2020 Joule Inc. or its licensors.)

Objective: Inpatient treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) is more than six times as costly as that of the general inpatient population. Our objective was to describe factors associated with hospital cost for patients admitted for PAD, the characteristics of high-cost patients, and their outcomes including amputations and death., Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of admitted patients receiving a procedure for PAD at The Ottawa Hospital between 2007 and 2016. Demographics, comorbidity, inpatient events, and hospital cost data during the index admission were collected. We defined high-cost patients as those whose total costs of index admission were in the tenth percentile and above. Features associated with high-cost status were examined using logistic regression with elastic net regularization. We used generalized linear models to examine overall drivers of cost., Results: We identified 3084 eligible patients, incurring $72.2 million in hospital costs. The mean cost of the most expensive 10% of patients was $88,076 (standard deviation, $54,720), more than five times the mean cost of $16,217 (standard deviation, $10,322) for nonhigh-cost patients. High-cost patients were more likely to present urgently (odds ratio [OR], 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16-2.25; P < .01). After adjustment for preadmission factors, high-cost patients were more likely to have experienced an adverse patient safety incident (OR, 13.49; 95% CI, 6.97-24.8; P < .01), amputation (OR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.68-4.49; P <.01), intensive care unit admission (OR, 6.42; 95% CI, 3.62-10.2; P < .01), and disposition barriers requiring alternate level of care status (OR, 10.44; 95% CI, 6.42-15.2; P < .01). The high-cost group was more likely to have received hybrid revascularization (OR, 7.07; 95% CI, 3.34-13.6; P < .01). High-cost patients had higher than predicted in-hospital mortality (18% vs 9.2% predicted) compared with the low-cost group (3.0% vs 2.7%; P < .001), and fewer than half of high-cost patients were discharged home., Conclusions: Providing hospital care for the top 10% most expensive patients in our cohort was more than five times as costly per patient than providing care for the nonhigh-cost patients. Whereas pre-existing factors may predispose a patient to require expensive care, there are potentially modifiable factors during the admission that could reduce costs of these patients., (Copyright © 2019 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)