Follow-up Important to Senior Surgery Patients, Study Reveals

A study revealed that patients aged 80 and above are significantly less likely to be carefully examined or aggressively treated after surgery than their younger counterparts, according to national audit of hospital deaths in Australia, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

This is despite the fact that the oldest seniors have higher rates of trauma and multiple underlying conditions on admission, say the Australian researchers.

Care for the oldest of seniors may be less aggressive, or scaled down because the outcome is expected to be poor or treatment considered futile, they say. Perceived future quality of life issues may also be a factor.

The researchers assessed data from a national audit of deaths after surgical procedures in every specialty carried out between 2009 and 2012 in 111 public and 61 private hospitals across Australia. This included one in five private hospitals and virtually all public teaching hospitals (99%).

To learn more about the research, visit http://blogs.bmj.com/bmjopen/2015/05/25/oldest-old-less-likely-to-be-investigated-or-aggressively-treated-after-surgery/. 

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