Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28694308›Full record

Observational studyCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2017

Association of delay of urgent or emergency surgery with mortality and use of health care resources: a propensity score-matched observational cohort study.

Daniel I McIsaac, Karim Abdulla, Homer Yang, Sudhir Sundaresan, Paula Doering, Sandeep Green Vaswani, Kednapa Thavorn, Alan J Forster

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
62citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

62 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Assessing Surgical Capacity in Guam: Current Strengths and Future Goals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
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2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Daniel I McIsaacDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA dmcisaac@toh.on.ca.
Karim AbdullaDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.
Homer YangDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.
Sudhir SundaresanDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.
Paula DoeringDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.
Sandeep Green VaswaniDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.
Kednapa ThavornDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.
Alan J ForsterDepartments of Anesthesiology (McIsaac, Abdulla, Yang), Surgery (Sundaresan) and Medicine (Forster), University of Ottawa; The Ottawa Hospital (McIsaac, Yang, Sundare-san, Doering, Forster), Civic Campus; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (McIsaac, Thavorn, Forster), Ottawa, Ont.; Institute for Healthcare Optimization (Green Vaswani), Newton, MA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDelay of surgery for hip fracture is associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality, but the effects of surgical delays on mortality and resource use in the context of other emergency surgeries is poorly described. Our objective was to measure the independent association between delay of emergency surgery and in-hospital mortality, length of stay and costs.

methodsWe identified all adult patients who underwent emergency noncardiac surgery between January 2012 and October 2014 at a single tertiary care centre. Delay of surgery was defined as the time from surgical booking to operating room entry exceeding institutionally defined acceptable wait times, based on a standardized 5-level priority system that accounted for surgery type and indication. Patients with delayed surgery were matched to those without delay using propensity scores derived from variables that accounted for details of admission and the hospital stay, patient characteristics, physiologic instability, and surgical urgency and risk.

resultsOf 15 160 patients, 2820 (18.6%) experienced a delay. The mortality rates were 4.9% (138/2820) for those with delay and 3.2% (391/12 340) for those without delay (odds ratio [OR] 1.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.30-1.93). Within the propensity-matched cohort, delay was significantly associated with mortality (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.18-2.06), increased length of stay (incident rate ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.11) and higher total costs (incident rate ratio 1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.11).

interpretationDelayed operating room access for emergency surgery was associated with increased risk of inhospital mortality, longer length of stay and higher costs. System issues appeared to underlie most delays and must be addressed to improve the outcomes of emergency surgery.

Indexed as

Emergency TreatmentHospital MortalityLength of StayTime-to-TreatmentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overCanadaDatabases, FactualFemaleHospital CostsHumansLogistic ModelsMaleMiddle AgedMultivariate Analysis

Identifiers

PMID28694308
PMCPMC5505757

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.