ArticleBMJ open2023
Are temporal trends in retained foreign object rates after surgery in Switzerland impacted by increasing coding intensity? A retrospective analysis of hospital routine data from 2000 to 2019.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Between-Hospital Variation in Failure to Rescue After Major Surgery.JAMA network open · 2026Article
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Abstract
objectivesRetained foreign objects (RFOs) after surgery can cause harm to patients and negatively impact clinician and hospital reputation. RFO incidence based on administrative data is used as a metric of patient safety. However, it is unknown how differences in coding intensity across hospitals and years impact the number of reported RFO cases. The objective of this study is to investigate the temporal trend of RFO incidence at a national level and the impact of changes in coding practices across hospitals and years.
designRetrospective study using administrative hospital data. SETTING AND
participants21 805 005 hospitalisations at 354 Swiss acute-care hospital sites PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: RFO incidence over time, the distribution of RFOs across hospitals and the impact of differences in coding intensity across the hospitals and years.
resultsThe annual RFO rate more than doubled between 2000 and 2019 (from 4.6 to 11.8 with a peak of 17.0 in 2014) and coincided with increasing coding intensity (mean number of diagnoses: 3.4, SD 2.0 in 2000; 7.40, SD 5.2 in 2019). After adjusting for patient characteristics, two regression models confirmed that coding intensity was a significant predictor of both whether RFO cases were reported at the hospital level (OR: 12.94; 95% CI: 7.38 to 22.68) and the number of reported cases throughout the period at the national level (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR): 5.95; 95% CI: 1.11 to 31.82).
conclusionsOur results raise concerns about the use of RFO incidence for comparing hospitals, countries and years. Utilising coding indices could be employed to mitigate the effects of coding intensity on RFO rates.
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