Postop CV Morbidity Down With Increased Time From COVID-19 to Surgery

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 14, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The odds of experiencing major postoperative cardiovascular morbidity are reduced with increased time from COVID-19 diagnosis to surgery, according to a study published online Dec. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

John M. Bryant, M.D., from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues examined the association between time to surgery after COVID-19 diagnosis and the risk for a composite of major postoperative cardiovascular morbidity events (deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, cerebrovascular accident, myocardial injury, acute kidney injury, and death) within 30 days after surgery in a single-center study. Data were included for 3,997 adults with a previous diagnosis of COVID-19 who underwent surgery from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 6, 2021.

The researchers found that there was a median of 98 days from COVID-19 diagnosis to surgery. Overall, 12.1 percent of patients had a major postoperative adverse cardiovascular event. The rate of the composite outcome decreased in association with increased time from COVID-19 diagnosis to surgery (adjusted odds ratio, 0.99 per 10 days; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.98 to 1.00; P = 0.006). For the 1,552 patients who had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, this trend persisted (adjusted odds ratio, 0.98 per 10 days; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.97 to 1.00; P = 0.04).

“Understanding the potential benefits associated with delaying surgery provides a key step in clinicians’ ability to optimize surgical timing for the increasing population of patients who have been infected with COVID-19,” the authors write.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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