ArticleJAMA network open2026
Rural Residence and Postsurgical Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries.
Article in JAMA network open, 2026. 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
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: Rural hospital-level surgical quality has been extensively evaluated. However, rural people in the US face growing inequities in care, and quality of surgical care experienced by rural patients nationally remains poorly defined. Objective: To evaluate surgical quality among rural vs nonrural Medicare beneficiaries undergoing common general surgery procedures. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study used 100% Medicare inpatient claims linked with the American Hospital Association Annual Survey between 2016 and 2023. The cohort included beneficiaries aged 65 to 99 years who underwent admission for appendectomy, cholecystectomy, colectomy, or incisional hernia repair. This analysis was undertaken between August and October 2025. Exposure: Rural vs nonrural residence, defined using Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes based on patient home zip code (1-3: nonrural; 4-10: rural). Main Outcomes and Measures: Risk-adjusted 30-day mortality, in-hospital mortality, complications, 30-day readmission, discharge disposition, and hospital length of stay. Multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for patient factors, hospital factors, and year of surgery. Results: Among 2 317 497 beneficiaries (55.5% female; mean [SD] age, 75.2 [7.2] years), 462 358 (19.9%) were rural. Rural patients were more often male (46.4% vs 44.1%) and traveled longer for surgery (median, 45.0 [IQR, 22.0-77.0] minutes vs 20.0 [IQR, 13.0-31.0] minutes). Rural patients had higher adjusted 30-day mortality (6.78% [95% CI, 6.65%-6.90%] vs 5.84% [95% CI, 5.76%-5.93%]; odds ratio [OR], 1.21 [95% CI, 1.18-1.24]; P < .001), in-hospital mortality (3.65% [95% CI, 3.56%-3.74%] vs 3.20% [95% CI, 3.14%-3.25%]; OR, 1.17 [95% CI, 1.14-1.21]; P < .001), and 30-day readmission (14.31% [95% CI, 14.14%-14.48%] vs 13.57% [95% CI, 13.45%-13.69%]; OR, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.05-1.08]; P < .001). Complication rates were higher (29.31% [95% CI, 29.04%-29.57%] vs 28.58% [95% CI, 28.40%-28.76%]; OR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.03-1.07]; P < .001). Rural patients were less likely to be discharged home (75.56% [95% CI, 75.24%-75.88%] vs 77.61% [95% CI, 77.36%-77.86%]; OR, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.83-0.88]; P < .001) and more likely to be transferred to another facility (1.40% [95% CI, 1.33%-1.47%] vs 0.70% [95% CI, 0.67%-0.73%]; OR, 2.04 [95% CI, 1.92-2.17]; P < .001). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing common general surgery procedures, rural residence was independently associated with worse clinical outcomes across most measures. These findings identify significant opportunities for quality improvement focused on common rural surgical needs.
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.