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Mortality after gynaecologic operations in Finland, 1986-1991
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Central Hospital of Turku, Finland.
Objective:
To study the current in-hospital, 30-day and 42-day mortality after conventional gynaecologic procedures in Finland, with special reference to hysterectomy.
Design:
Nationwide six-year annual study.
Setting:
Data were from the Finnish Population Register Centre, the Finnish Cause-of-Death and Hospital Discharge Register, and the Register for Legal Abortions and Sterilisations.
Subjects:
Gynaecologic operations (n = 299,257) performed between January 1986 and December 1991.
Main Outcome Measures:
The overall and age-adjusted mortality rates during the initial hospitalisation, as well as 30 and 42 days after the operations. Age-adjusted probability of dying within 42 days after hysterectomy compared with the overall probability of age-matched Finnish female control population.
Results:
Overall mortality rates per 10,000 hysterectomies increased gradually from 6.0 during initial hospitalisation to 9.1 and 12.9 when calculated 30 and 42 days post-operatively. The overall 42-day mortality rates of radical hysterectomy, curettage and laparoscopy (other than sterilisation) exceeded the post-hysterectomy mortality rate, while the rates after caesarean section, legal abortion and laparoscopic sterilisation did not. No deaths occurred after laparoscopic sterilisation (n = 40,346). The patients who died after radical hysterectomy, curettage and for other laparoscopy than sterilisation were old, and the great majority of them died of cancer.
Conclusions:
The mortality rates after gynaecologic procedures in Finland are currently very low and have clearly decreased in recent decades. Patients may be reassured that conventional gynaecologic operations are safe.