Risks and outcome of fatal respiratory events after lung cancer surgery: cohort study in South Korea

Severe complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome or respiratory failure can occur after lung cancer surgery. However, the prevalence and risk factors have not been well identified. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for fatal respiratory events after lung cancer surgery in South Korea.

The National Health Insurance Service database in South Korea was used to extract data of all adult patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent lung cancer surgery from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2018, for a population-based cohort study. Diagnosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome or respiratory failure after surgery was defined as postoperative fatal respiratory event.

A total of 60,031 adult patients who received lung cancer surgery were included in the analysis. Among them, 0.5% (285/60,031) experienced fatal respiratory events after the lung cancer surgery. In multivariable logistic regression, some risk factors (older age, male sex, higher Charlson comorbidity index score, underlying severe disability, bilobectomy, pneumonectomy, redo-case, lower case volume, and open thoracotomy) for developing postoperative fatal respiratory events were identified. Moreover, the development of postoperative fatal respiratory events was associated with high in-hospital mortality, 1-year mortality, longer length of hospital stays, and higher total hospitalization costs.

Postoperative fatal respiratory events might worsen the clinical outcomes of lung cancer surgery. The knowledge of potential risk factors related to postoperative fatal respiratory events could enable earlier intervention to reduce the occurrence of these events and improve the postoperative clinical outcome.