Preoperatively predicting non-home discharge after surgery for gynecologic malignancy

Returning home after surgery is a desirable patient-centered outcome associated with decreased costs compared to non-home discharge. Our objective was to develop a preoperative risk-scoring model predicting non-home discharge after surgery for gynecologic malignancy.

Women who underwent surgery involving hysterectomy for gynecologic malignancy from 2013 to 2015 were identified from the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative database. Patients were divided by discharge destination, and a multivariable logistic regression model was developed to create a nomogram to assign case-specific risk scores. The model was validated using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database.

Non-home discharge occurred in 3.1% of 2134 women. The proportion of non-home discharges did not differ by cancer diagnosis (uterine 3.5%, ovarian 2.5%, and cervical 1.6%, p = 0.2). Skilled nursing facilities were the most common non-home destination (68.2%). Among patients with comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease /dyspnea, arrhythmia, and history of deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism), non-home discharge was more common in women with 1 (adjusted OR [aOR] 3.4; p = 0.03) or ≥2 of these comorbidities (aOR 5.1; p = 0.003) compared to none. Non-home discharge was more common after laparotomy (aOR 6.7; p < 0.0001) than laparoscopy, and in those aged ≥70 years (aOR 3.4; p < 0.0001) with American Society of Anesthesiologists class ≥ 3 (aOR 4.5; p = 0.0004) and dependent functional status (aOR 8.7; p < 0.0001). The model C-statistic was 0.89. When the model was applied to 4248 eligible patients from the NSQIP dataset, the C-statistic was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.79-0.89).

Non-home discharge after surgery for gynecologic malignancy was predicted with high accuracy in this retrospective analysis.