Operated patients more likely to die if surgery happens on surgeon's birthday
Elderly patients who have their surgeries on the birthday of their surgeon are
23% more likely to die in the 30-day postoperative period. That is according
to an
observational study
that gathered the data of more than 980,000 patients and 47,000
surgeons.
The researchers looked at 980,876 operations performed by 47,489 surgeons
whose birthdays were evenly distributed throughout the year. Just 0.2% or a
total of about 2,000 of these operations took place on the surgeons' birthday.
The researchers note that the patients who underwent surgery during their
surgeons' birthdays had similar characteristics with those who had surgeries
on other days. Also, the average number of surgeries performed by each surgeon
was similar during their birthdays and other days.
The researchers concluded that the 30day mortality of patients on the
surgeon’s birthday was 7.0% (6.9% after adjustment for both patient
characteristics and surgeon fixed effects), while on other days mortality was
5.6%.
The graph below illustrates this difference more clearly.
So, don't forget to ask for your doctor's birthday before you sign yourself in
for an operation!
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