Preoperative serum cholinesterase levels as a risk factor of postoperative complications for the elderly undergoing...

An accurate assessment of preoperative malnutrition in the elderly is critically important to predicting postoperative complications. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive value of the preoperative serum cholinesterase levels as a risk factor for postoperative complications in the elderly who have undergone emergency surgery.

The study comprised 60 elderly patients who had undergone emergency major gastroenterological surgery. We retrospectively investigated the relationship between the preoperative serum cholinesterase levels and postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo classification ≥ II). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the risk factors for postoperative complications.

Thirty-three patients (55%) developed postoperative complications. According to the univariate analysis, hemoglobin (P = 0.018), albumin (P = 0.0036), cholinesterase (P < 0.001), C-reactive protein (P = 0.043), prognostic nutritional index (P = 0.0050), the Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P < 0.001) and operation time (P = 0.042) were identified to be risk factors for postoperative complications. According to the multivariate analysis, low preoperative serum cholinesterase levels were found to be an independent risk factor for postoperative complications (P = 0.029). In the extremely elderly (80-95 years), the cholinesterase-low group had a higher complication rate compared to the cholinesterase-high group (77.8 vs 43.8%, P = 0.028).

The preoperative serum cholinesterase levels may be a risk factor for postoperative complications in elderly patients after emergency surgery, thus suggesting the significance of cholinesterase in evaluating the nutritional status.