Characteristics of patients undergoing major elective surgery in Ontario, 1995–2009
| Characteristic | No. (%) | p value* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–1997 3 years | 1998–2001 4 years | 2002–2005 4 years | 2006–2009 4 years | ||
| Type of surgery† | n =136 453 | n = 162 113 | n = 133 268 | n = 120 838 | |
| Abdominal | 85 272 (62.5) | 87 786 (54.2) | 43 767 (32.8) | 41 153 (34.0) | < 0.001 |
| Cardiac | 20 247 (14.8) | 38 339 (23.6) | 46 448 (34.8) | 42 209 (34.9) | < 0.001 |
| Retroperitoneal | 7 668 (5.6) | 7 703 (4.8) | 15 631 (11.7) | 9 195 (7.6) | < 0.001 |
| Thoracic | 4 376 (3.2) | 8 307 (5.1) | 11 697 (8.8) | 13 493 (11.2) | < 0.001 |
| Vascular | 18 890 (13.8) | 19 978 (12.3) | 15 725 (11.8) | 14 788 (12.2) | < 0.001 |
| Age, yr | |||||
| < 45 | 34 180 (25.0) | 30 380 (18.7) | 18 921 (14.2) | 13 796 (11.4) | < 0.001 |
| 45–64 | 48 385 (35.5) | 59 770 (36.9) | 50 915 (38.2) | 45 896 (38.0) | |
| ≥65 | 53 888 (39.5) | 71 963 (44.4) | 63 432 (47.6) | 61 146 (50.6) | |
| Female sex | 67 027 (49.1) | 65 373 (40.3) | 59 594 (44.7) | 50 350 (41.7) | < 0.001 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index, score‡ | |||||
| 0 | 107 929 (79.1) | 121 653 (75.0) | 98 674 (74.0) | 86 075 (71.2) | < 0.005 |
| 1 | 14 647 (10.7) | 20 026 (12.4) | 16 172 (12.1) | 12 560 (10.4) | |
| 2 | 7 483 (5.5) | 11 009 (6.8) | 9 653 (7.2) | 11 691 (9.7) | |
| ≥3 | 6 394 (4.7) | 9 425 (5.8) | 8 769 (6.6) | 10 512 (8.7) | |
| Comorbid medical conditions§ | |||||
| Diabetes mellitus | 15 152 (11.1) | 22 272 (13.7) | 23 679 (17.8) | 25 877 (21.4) | < 0.001 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 2 025 (1.5) | 2 107 (1.3) | 1 309 (1.0) | 643 (0.5) | < 0.001 |
| COPD | 24 113 (17.7) | 29 274 (18.1) | 26 081 (19.6) | 23 940 (19.8) | < 0.001 |
| Hypertension | 39 468 (28.9) | 55 378 (34.2) | 54 891 (41.2) | 54 146 (44.8) | < 0.001 |
| Coronary artery disease | 44 867 (32.9) | 65 379 (40.3) | 61 526 (46.2) | 53 343 (44.1) | < 0.001 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 1 654 (1.2) | 2 185 (1.3) | 1 761 (1.3) | 1 687 (1.4) | < 0.001 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 2 737 (2.0) | 4 010 (2.5) | 5 215 (3.9) | 6 617 (5.5) | < 0.001 |
| Liver dysfunction | 3 321 (2.4) | 4 003 (2.5) | 3 562 (2.5) | 3 864 (3.2) | < 0.001 |
| Cancer | 40 337 (29.6) | 51 496 (31.8) | 48 561 (36.4) | 49 023 (40.6) | < 0.001 |
| Congestive heart failure | 11 749 (8.6) | 16 207 (10.0) | 15 079 (11.3) | 13 825 (11.4) | < 0.001 |
Note: COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
↵* Cochrane–Armitage test for trend.
↵† Reported percentage of surgeries per year.
↵‡ Scores were assigned using patient information from hospital records in the three years before surgery. Patients with no admissions to hospital during this period were assigned a value of zero.
↵§ As defined by the presence of administrative diagnostic codes (see Appendix 1, available at www.cmaj.ca/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1503/cmaj.110895/-/DC1).