Association between Dysphagia and Surgical Outcomes across the Continuum of Frailty

Seth M. Cohen, Kathryn N. Porter Starr, Thomas Risoli, Hui Jie Lee, Stephanie Misono, Harrison Jones, Sudha Raman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between dysphagia and adverse outcomes across frailty conditions among surgical patients ≥50 years of age. A retrospective cohort analysis of surgical hospitalizations in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s National Inpatient Sample among patients ≥50 years of age undergoing intermediate/high risk surgery not involving the larynx, pharynx, or esophagus. Of 3,298,835 weighted surgical hospitalizations, dysphagia occurred in 1.2% of all hospitalizations and was higher in frail patients ranging from 5.4% to 11.7%. Dysphagia was associated with greater length of stay, higher total costs, increased non-routine discharges, and increased medical/surgical complications among both frail and non-frail patients. Dysphagia may be an independent risk factor for poor postoperative outcomes among surgical patients ≥50 years of age across frailty conditions and is an important consideration for providers seeking to reduce risk in vulnerable surgical populations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)59-79
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics
Volume40
Issue number2-3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 29 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
There is no study sponsor. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award [Number UL1TR002553]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. This study was made possible by Grant Number [UL1TR001117] from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research as well as [NIH ULI RR033183 & KL2 RR0333182], and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Service [IK2RX002348]. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCATS, NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs. We assure this work is original and has not been submitted elsewhere.

Funding Information:
Seth Cohen is a consultant for Zsquare, Data Safety Monitoring Board Member for Syneos Health. Stephanie Misono has NIH K23DC016335 funding from the NIDCD. Kathryn Starr has funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Service IK2RX002348. Sudha Raman has research support from Glaxo Smith Kline and the Federal Drug Administration. Thomas Risoli, Hui-Jie Lee, and Harrison Jones have no disclosures.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Keywords

  • Dysphagia
  • frailty
  • outcomes
  • surgery

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Association between Dysphagia and Surgical Outcomes across the Continuum of Frailty'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this