https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5533-8779
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Holly Baselice, Whitney Kellett, Adara McCarty, Jon Wisler, Heena Santry, Enrolling high-acuity emergency general surgery patients in a prospective longitudinal cohort study, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 194, Issue 3, March 2025, Pages 820–829, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwae201
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Abstract
Over 3 million patients are admitted to hospitals annually with high-acuity conditions mandating emergency abdominal or skin/soft-tissue operations. Patients with these high-acuity emergency general surgery (HA-EGS) diseases experience significant morbidity and mortality, yet the quality-of-life impact on survivors is not well studied. Acuity, transfer patterns, and adverse social determinants of health documented in epidemiologic studies are cited reasons for inability to measure patient-reported outcomes among HA-EGS survivors. We conducted a feasibility study to understand facilitators/barriers to conducting prospective studies of changes in quality of life after surviving HA-EGS. From September 2019 to April 2021, we collected baseline (preadmission) and 30/60 days’ postsurgery data on activities of daily living, depression, self-efficacy, resilience, pain, work limitations, social support, and substance use from patients who enrolled in the study during index hospitalization. One hundred patients consented to participate (71.9% enrollment rate). The retention rate was 65.9% for 30-day follow-up telephone calls and 53.8% for 60-day follow-up calls. Median time needed to complete each time point remained under 25 minutes. Patients with a longer length of stay and nicotine users had higher odds of not completing their 30day interview, while those with systemic complications had higher odds of not completing their 60day interview. These results lay the foundation for future patient-reported outcome studies.
