Aging Disparities in Ostomy Surgery

Little is known about the association between age and fecal ostomy surgery trends over time. We aim to 1) determine the rate of fecal ostomy operations over time and 2) compare rates of colostomy formation between patients older and younger than 65 y.

Retrospective multi-institutional cohort study of patients ≥18 y who underwent colorectal resection between 2003 and 2014 using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database. Patients were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition Procedural Codes. A difference-in-difference analysis was performed to evaluate the differences in colostomy formation between age groups.

Out of 819,441 adult patients who underwent major colorectal resection, 136,840 (16.6%) required ostomy formation. Median age was 63 y (interquartile range 51-74), 50% were female. Overall, 82,606 (10.0%) patients underwent a colostomy formation and 54,234 (6.6%) an ileostomy formation. Rates of colostomy formation decreased (13.2%-7.1% in <65 and 14.0%-7.2% in ≥65). Incidence of ileostomy formation increased for both age groups (6.1%-9.9% in <65 and 3.8%-6.3% in ≥65). The difference-in-difference analysis showed that the decline in colostomy formation was less pronounced among the older adult cohort (odds ratio 0.49, 95% confidence interval 0.47-0.50) than those <65 (odds ratio 0.42, 95% confidence interval 0.41-0.44).

Incidence of colostomy formation decreased in both groups over the study period. In contrast, the decline in colostomy formation was slower among older adults. This highlights a significant change in surgical trends across the United States with increasing rates of ileostomy use. Appropriate resource allocation and support are vital to the recovery of this growing surgical patient population.