Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Short-term Urethral Sling Surgical Outcomes

To evaluate the association of racial and socioeconomic factors with the risk of adverse events in the first 30 days following urethral sling placement.

We accessed nonpublic data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in California from 2005 to 2011. All female patients who underwent an ambulatory urethral sling procedure in the entire state of California over the study period were identified (Current Procedural Terminology 57288). Our main outcome was any unplanned hospital visits within 30 days of the patient's surgery in the form of an inpatient admission, revision surgery, or emergency department visit.

A total of 28,635 women who underwent outpatient urethral sling placement were identified. Within 30 days, 1628 women (5.7%) had at least 1 unplanned hospital visit. In the adjusted multivariate model, black race and Medicaid insurance status were both independently associated with increased odds of having an unplanned hospital visit (odds ratio 1.80, P < .01 and odds ratio 1.53, P < .01, respectively). This significance persisted even when controlling for patient comorbidities, demographics, and facility characteristics.

We found that, similar to what has been reported in other fields, disparities in outcomes exist between socioeconomic and racial groups in the field of urogynecology.