Does COVID-19 infection change the need for future surgical interventions? An exploratory analysis

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Surgical Outcomes

Background:

• The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the subsequent need for common surgical procedures remains unclear.
• Investigating post-COVID-19 surgical procedure trends is crucial for understanding long-term health implications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the association between documented COVID-19 infection and the requirement for common surgical interventions.
• To analyze trends in surgical procedures among individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study utilizing administrative health data from Ontario, Canada.
• Matched 1:2 cohort of individuals with positive COVID-19 tests (n=19,143) and negative tests (n=38,286) between February and May 2020.
• Cox proportional hazard models analyzed the risk of top ten surgical procedures up to November 30, 2020.

Main Results:

• The ten most frequent surgical procedures included fracture fixation, Cesarean section, hysterectomy, and appendectomy.
• A significantly reduced hazard was observed for upper tract renal stone surgery (aHR 0.50) and ureteral stent placement (aHR 0.54) post-COVID-19.
• A reduced hazard for cholecystectomy (aHR 0.43) was also noted in the COVID-19 cohort.

Conclusions:

• COVID-19 infection does not appear to increase the risk for several common surgical procedures.
• A potential decreased risk for renal stone disease treatment, ureteral stent placement, and cholecystectomy following COVID-19 warrants further investigation.
• Understanding the underlying mechanisms for these observed reductions requires additional research.