Quality of life after emergency laparotomy: a systematic review

Emergency laparotomy is a commonly performed surgical procedure that has higher post-operative morbidity and mortality than elective surgery. Previous research has identified that patients valued postoperative quality of life (QoL) more than the risk of mortality when deciding to undergo emergency surgery. Current pre-operative scoring and risk stratification systems for emergency laparotomy do not account for or provide prediction tools for post-operative QoL. This study aims to systematically review previous literature to determine post-operative QoL in patients who undergo emergency laparotomy.

A literature search was undertaken in Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library to identify studies measuring post-operative QoL in patients who have had emergency laparotomy up to 29th April 2023. Mean QoL scores from the studies included were combined to calculate the average effect of emergency laparotomy on QoL. The primary outcome of the review was postoperative QoL after emergency laparotomy when compared with a comparator group. Secondary outcomes included the quality of included studies.

Ten studies in the literature assessing the QoL of patients after emergency laparotomy were identified. Three studies showed that patients had improved QoL and seven showed worse QoL following emergency laparotomy. Length of time for QoL to return to baseline varied ranged from 3 to 12 months post-operatively. Length of hospital stay was identified as an independent risk factor for poorer QoL post-surgery.

Outcome reporting for patients who undergo emergency laparotomy should be expanded further to include QoL. Further work is required to investigate this and elicit factors that can improve QoL post-operatively.