Risk Factors for Postoperative Pulmonary Complications after Abdominal Surgery

Incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC) in patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic surgery remains high and the occurrence of these complications has enormous implications for the patient and the health care system.

The aim of the study was to identify risk factors for PPC in patients undergoing abdominal surgical procedures.

A prospective cohort study in abdominal surgical patients, admitted to the emergency and surgical ward of the UHC of Tirana, Albania, was conducted during the period: March 2014-March 2015. We collected data on the occurrence of a symptomatic and clinically significant PPC using clinical, laboratory, and radiology data. We evaluated the relations between PPCs and various pre-operative or intra-operative factors to identify risk factors.

A total of 450 postoperative patients admitted to the surgical emergency and surgical ward were studied. The mean age were 59.85 ±13.64 years with 59.3% being male. Incidence of PPC was 27.3% (123 patients) and hospital length of stay was 4.93 ± 4.65 days. Length of stay was substantially prolonged for those patients who developed PPC (7.48 ± 2.89 days versus 3.97± 4.83 days, p < 0.0001. PPC were identified as risk factors for mortality, OR: 21.84; 95% CI: 11.66-40.89; P < 0.0001. The multivariate regression analysis identified as being independently associated with an increased risk of PPC: age ≥ 65 years (OR 11.41; 95% CI: 4.84-26.91, p < 0.0001), duration of operation ≥ 2.5 hours (OR 8.38; 95% CI: 1.52-46.03, p = 0.01, history of previous pulmonary diseases (OR 11.12; 95% CI: 3.28-37.65, P = 0.0001) and ASA > 2 (OR 6.37; 95% CI: 1.54-26.36, P = 0.01).

We must do some efforts in reducing postoperative pulmonary complications, firstly to identify which patients are at increased risk, and then following more closely high-risk patients because those patients are most likely to benefit.