Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33880531›Full record

ArticleBJS open2021

Causes of death after emergency general surgical admission: population cohort study of mortality.

G Ramsay, J M Wohlgemut, M Bekheit, A J M Watson, J O Jansen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BJS open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Observational
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

G RamsayDepartment of General Surgery, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK.
J M WohlgemutDepartment of General Surgery, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK.
M BekheitDepartment of General Surgery, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK.
A J M WatsonDepartment of Surgery, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, UK.
J O JansenDivision of Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA substantial number of patients treated in emergency general surgery (EGS) services die within a year of discharge. The aim of this study was to analyse causes of death and their relationship to discharge diagnoses, in patients who died within 1 year of discharge from an EGS service in Scotland.

methodsThis was a population cohort study of all patients with an EGS admission in Scotland, UK, in the year before death. Patients admitted to EGS services between January 2008 and December 2017 were included. Data regarding patient admissions were obtained from the Information Services Division in Scotland, and cross-referenced to death certificate data, obtained from the National Records of Scotland.

resultsOf 507 308 patients admitted to EGS services, 7917 died while in hospital, and 52 094 within 1 year of discharge. For the latter, the median survival time was 67 (i.q.r. 21-168) days after EGS discharge. Malignancy accounted for 48 per cent of deaths and was the predominant cause of death in patients aged over 35 years. The cause of death was directly related to the discharge diagnosis in 56.5 per cent of patients. Symptom-based discharge diagnoses were often associated with a malignancy not diagnosed on admission.

conclusionWhen analysed by subsequent cause of death, EGS is a cancer-based specialty. Adequate follow-up and close links with oncology and palliative care services merit development.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overCause of DeathComorbidityCross-Sectional StudiesEmergenciesEmergency Service, HospitalFemaleGeneral SurgeryHospitalizationHospital MortalityHumansMaleMiddle Aged

Identifiers

PMID33880531
PMCPMC8058150

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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.