[Anaesthesia for the elderly at Nordland Hospital Bodø 1993-2009]

We investigated the development in the number of anaesthetised patients ≥ 67 years at Nordland Hospital Bodø and whether the age group ≥ 80 years had more problems under anaesthesia.

We used anonymised information on anaesthesia from the DIPS patient data system at Nordland Hospital in Bodø from 1993-2009 and population data from Statistics Norway.

The total number of registered anaesthesias increased by 26.8%, from 6,770 in 1993 to 8,584 in 2009. 25,259 (92.7%) of anaesthesias for patients ≥ 67 years were in connection with surgery. The number, and the percentage of the total number, of anaesthesias for patients aged 67-79 years increased from 931 (13.8%) to 1,337 (15.6%). The percentage therefore increased by 13.0%, while the percentage of the population represented by this age group decreased by 10.7%. For patients ≥ 80 years the number and percentage increased from 341 (5.0%) to 696 (8.1%) anaesthesias, i.e. a percentage increase of 62.0%. At the same time the percentage of northern Norwegians ≥ 80 years increased by 30.6%. 4,490 (53.1%) of patients ≥ 80 years had an ASA classification of 3-5 compared to 6,745 (35.9%) in the age group 67-79 years (p < 0.001). Anaesthesia problems were recorded in 1,044 (12.3%) of patients ≥ 80 years and 2,349 (12.5%) of patients aged 67-79 years respectively (p = 0.73).

The increase in anaesthesias for elderly patients at Nordland Hospital Bodø cannot be explained by population changes alone. That patients ≥ 80 years do not have more problems during anaesthesia than patients aged 67-79 years may be attributed to better surveillance and use of different methods of anaesthesia, but also to imprecise and deficient registration.