ArticleANZ journal of surgery
Changes in Surgical Admissions and Outcomes During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploration of the Australian and New Zealand Audit of Surgical Mortality (ANZASM).
Article in ANZ journal of surgery. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe effect of COVID-19 lockdown periods on surgical admission patterns in the Australian healthcare system has been relatively unexplored. The impact of these lockdowns was investigated via analysis of a surgical mortality dataset.
settingAll cases that had completed the evaluation process by 4 March 2025 (patient death between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2024, n = 28 685) were included. The ANZASM database captures deaths during surgical admissions, not all surgical admissions. Data from NSW were unavailable at the time of extraction. Cases were grouped into three cohorts, according to date of patient death: pre-COVID (2017-2019), COVID (2020-2021) and post-COVID (2022-2024).
resultsDemographics were consistent across cohorts, with minor differences between pre- and post-COVID for age (p < 0.05), length of stay (p < 0.05) and ASA score (p < 0.001). Differences were observed in admission patterns (p < 0.001). There was a 3.9% decrease in private hospital admissions between pre- and post-COVID (19.1% vs. 15.2%), contrasting with a 4.3% increase in public hospital admissions (79.4% vs. 83.7%). Similarly, there was a decrease in elective procedures between pre- and post-COVID (18.5% vs. 12.9%) and an increase in 'scheduled emergency' procedures (i.e., > 24 h post-admission) (29.7% vs. 33.1%). While there was an overall decrease in postoperative complications post-COVID, there was an increase in the occurrence of anastomotic leaks. There was an increase in palliative care observed between pre- and post-COVID (2.2% vs. 4.1%; p < 0.001).
conclusionThese data indicate lasting shifts in surgical care patterns following the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in admissions for palliative care under surgery post-COVID could indicate that disease states customarily amenable to surgical intervention had progressed due to delayed diagnosis and COVID-associated shutdowns of elective theatre activity. The increased occurrence of anastomotic leaks post-COVID may reflect skill fatigue, but other potential explanations for this observation also warrant further investigation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.