Impact of preoperative frailty status on decision regret following elective hernia repair

Decision regret following hernia repair is common, particularly for patients who experience complications. Frailty is a risk factor for complications, but whether frailty is independently associated with regret remains unknown.

We retrospectively reviewed the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative Core Optimization Hernia Registry, a representative sample of adult patients from > 70 hospitals across Michigan. We included patients who underwent elective ventral and incisional hernia repair (VIHR) or groin hernia repair (GHR) from 2020 to 2021 and completed a survey measuring regret. Frailty was quantified using validated 5-factor modified frailty index (mFI5): no (mFI5 = 0), moderate (mFI5 = 1), or severe frailty (mFI5 ≥ 2). Primary outcome was regret at 90-days. Multivariable regression models evaluated the association of frailty with regret.

795 patients underwent VIHR: 294 (37.0%) were moderately frail, and 127 (16.0%) were severely frail. Severely frail patients were older, more often male, more comorbid, had higher BMI, and had larger hernias (all p < 0.05). Regret was demonstrated in 88 patients (11.1%). 2502 patients underwent GHR: 966 (38.6%) moderately frail, and 213 (8.5%) severely frail. Severely frail patients were older, had higher BMI, and more comorbidities (all p < 0.001). 271 persons (10.8%) expressed regret. For both VIHR and GHR, frailty was not associated with regret (p > 0.05). There were no differences in complications by frailty status (p = 0.10 and p = 0.22).

Despite their higher risk, persons with frailty are not more likely to express regret following hernia repair. Decision regret is important for evaluating quality-of-life operations, but frailty status should not be used alone to predict risk of decision regret.