Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35989114›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of anaesthesia2022

Long-term mortality following complications after elective surgery: a secondary analysis of pooled data from two prospective cohort studies.

Alexander J Fowler, Yize I Wan, John R Prowle, Michelle Chew, Douglas Campbell, Brian Cuthbertson, Duminda N Wijeysundera, Rupert Pearse, Tom Abbott

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of anaesthesia, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed
8.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. Observational
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Harmful incidents following gynaecological ambulatory surgery: A scoping review.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Patient-centred outcomes.BJA education · 2025
    Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Alexander J FowlerFaculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Yize I WanFaculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
John R ProwleFaculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Michelle ChewDepartment of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Douglas CampbellDepartment of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.
Brian CuthbertsonDepartment of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Duminda N WijeysunderaDepartment of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Anesthesia, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Rupert PearseFaculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Tom AbbottFaculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. Electronic address: t.abbott@qmul.ac.uk.
Queen Mary University of London · GBAuckland City Hospital · NZLinköping University · SESt. Michael's Hospital · CASunnybrook Health Science Centre · CA

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/M017974/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundComplications after surgery affect survival and quality of life. We aimed to confirm the relationship between postoperative complications and death within 1 yr after surgery.

methodsWe conducted a secondary analysis of pooled data from two prospective cohort studies of patients undergoing surgery in five high-income countries between 2012 and 2014. Exposure was any complication within 30 days after surgery. Primary outcome was death within 1 yr after surgery, ascertained by direct follow-up or linkage to national registers. We adjusted for clinically important covariates using a mixed-effect multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model. We conducted a planned subgroup analysis by type of complication. Data are presented as mean with standard deviation (sd), n (%), and adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

resultsThe pooled cohort included 10 132 patients. After excluding 399 (3.9%) patients with missing data or incomplete follow-up, 9733 patients were analysed. The mean age was 59 [sd 16.8] yr, and 5362 (55.1%) were female. Of 9733 patients, 1841 (18.9%) had complications within 30 days after surgery, and 319 (3.3%) died within 1 yr after surgery. Of 1841 patients with complications, 138 (7.5%) died within 1 yr after surgery compared with 181 (2.3%) of 7892 patients without complications (aHR 1.94 [95% CI: 1.53-2.46]). Respiratory failure was associated with the highest risk of death, resulting in six deaths amongst 28 patients (21.4%).

conclusionsPostoperative complications are associated with increased mortality at 1 yr. Further research is needed to identify patients at risk of complications and to reduce mortality.

Indexed as

Elective Surgical ProceduresQuality of LifeCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPostoperative ComplicationsProspective Studieslong-term survivalmortalityperioperative caresurgical complicationssurgical outcomes

Identifiers

PMID35989114
PMCPMC9575043
OpenAlexW4292680241

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.