The effect of pre-operative diagnosis on patient reported outcomes in patients undergoing colorectal operations: A...

Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) capture peri-operative fatigue, pain, and quality of life and influence outcomes in gastrointestinal surgery. We compared peri-operative PROs in patients undergoing colorectal operations for neoplastic versus non-neoplastic processes.

Patients undergoing colectomy were enrolled prospectively. Demographics and PROs were gathered preoperatively and on post-operative day (POD) 2, 7, 14, and 30 using the validated Linear Analog Self-Assessment (LASA). Severe pain was defined as pain ≥5, severe fatigue as ≥7, a quality of life deficit as QOL ≤5.

We included 192 patients, median age 54 years, 44% female, 88 (46%) for neoplasia. Morbidity was 38%, mortality 3%. Pre-operatively, non-neoplasia patients reported significantly more pain, fatigue, and QOL deficits than neoplasia patients. Severe pain at POD 2 was a positive predictor for complications (p-value< 0.05).

In patients undergoing colorectal surgery, diagnosis influences peri-operative PROs; early severe pain and fatigue may predict complications.