Inflammatory markers as predictors of postoperative adverse outcome in octogenarian surgical patients: an...

The value of inflammatory proteins, interleukin-6 and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein as prognostic factors in elderly people undergoing surgery has not been determined yet.

To know whether preoperatively determined inflammatory markers may predict the postoperative outcome of elderly patients undergoing surgery. A scoring system for predicting postoperative morbidity was assessed.

Hospital-based observational prospective study, with geriatric surgical patients. Preoperative determination of following data: age, gender, scheduled or urgent operation, comorbid diseases, malignancy, physical, mental and nutritional profile. Biochemical markers of inflammation, C Reactive Protein, interleukin-6, and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein were also studied. Preoperative data and postoperative complications were recorded. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to obtain a morbidity risk prediction model.

A total of 225 patients were included. Fifty-five patients (24.4%) had postoperative complications, with a mortality rate of 5.3%. Binary logistic regression analysis showed an independent relation between morbidity and the variables malignancy, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein and interleukin-6. The risk (R) of postoperative morbidity adjusted by age was calculated. The model showed a 22.2% sensitivity, 94.8% specificity, and a percentage of correct classification of 78.3%. The area under the ROC curve was 0.781 (95% CI: 0.703-0.858).

An age-adjusted equation for predicting 30-day morbidity that included malignancy, serum IL-6 and alpha 1-acid glycoprotein levels may be useful for risk assessment in octogenarian surgical patients.