Interaction between frailty and sex on mortality after elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.
Controversy exists surrounding gender outcome disparity and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. Previous reports have demonstrated worse outcomes for women undergoing open aneurysm repair (OAR); however, these differences are less evident with endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Epidemiologic studies have documented that women score higher on most frailty assessment scales but paradoxically have longer life expectancy compared to men. The interaction of gender/frailty and the influence on outcomes and practice patterns surrounding EVAR and OAR is poorly described. This analysis characterizes the association of frailty/sex interactions on mortality as well as patient selection surrounding elective AAA repair in the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative.
All elective infrarenal AAA (EVAR + OAR; 2003-2017) cases were queried from the Vascular Quality Initiative database. Each patient was assigned a previously published modified frailty index (mFI) score derived from comorbidity and preoperative functional status data. Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for statistically significant covariates, including procedural complexity, determined associations within full models and sex-stratified models.
A total of 20,750 elective AAA cases were analyzed (EVAR 15,893 [77%]; OAR 4857 [23%]). Thirty-day mortality for EVAR and OAR was 0.7% (n = 115) and 3.5% (n = 169), respectively. Patients who died were significantly more likely to be older (EVAR, 78 vs 73 years; OAR, 74 vs 69 years; P < .0001), have larger AAA diameters (EVAR, 59 vs 56 mm; P = .005; OAR, 62 vs 59 mm; P = .001), higher mFI scores (EVAR, 3.2 vs 2.4; OAR, 3.1 vs 2.2; P < .0001), and be of female sex (EVAR hazard ratio = 1.66 [95% confidence interval, 1.10-2.52]; P = .007; OAR-1.43 [1.02-1.99]; P = .003). Significant differences in the gender distribution of frailty scores among EVAR patients were evident (mean mFI: male 2.42 vs female 2.34; P = .02), but no difference was detected for OAR (male 2.17 vs female 2.22; P = .38). The mFI was a strong independent predictor of mortality (30 days: EVAR hazard ratio = 1.36 [1.22-1.53] and OAR 1.46 [1.32-1.60]; 1 year: EVAR 1.32 [1.25-1.39] and OAR-1.38 [1.28-1.48]). There was no interaction between mFI and gender on the association with mortality. Across frailty strata, male patients were nearly twofold more likely to undergo either elective EVAR or OAR for an AAA below recommended minimum diameter thresholds (male, <5.5 cm; female, <5.0 cm). Greater mFI score did not alter OAR selection but was associated with less frequent EVAR of small AAA.
Given the strong association between frailty and postoperative mortality, mFI can be used as a predictive tool to aid in surgical planning of patients undergoing elective AAA repair. While mFI can predict postoperative mortality for both men and women, it does not account for the survival disparity between sexes, and further research is warranted to explain this difference. There appear to be significant gender differences in patient selection based on current Society for Vascular Surgery-endorsed treatment thresholds that may have important implications on the appropriateness of AAA care delivery nationally.
Barbey SM
,Scali ST
,Kubilis P
,Beck AW
,Goodney P
,Giles KA
,Berceli SA
,Huber TS
,Upchurch GR
,Yaghjyan L
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Octogenarians Undergoing Open Repair Have Higher Mortality Compared with Fenestrated Endovascular Repair of Intact Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Involving the Visceral Vessels.
Prior studies have shown that octogenarians have a higher risk of mortality than nonoctogenarians undergoing open aneurysm repair (OAR) and endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (F-EVAR) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012 and has been used as a less invasive approach to treat patients with suboptimal neck anatomy with favorable outcomes compared with traditional OAR. The aim of the study is to compare 30-day outcomes of F-EVAR versus OAR in octogenarians undergoing repair of AAA involving the visceral vessels in the United States.
All patients with postoperative diagnosis of nonruptured AAA repair were identified in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (2006-2015). Univariate and multivariate analyses were implemented to examine 30-day morbidity and mortality adjusting for patient demographics and comorbidities.
A total of 548 octogenarians underwent repair of nonruptured AAA involving the visceral vessels, of which 242 (44%) were F-EVARs, and 306 (56%) were OARs. Octogenarians undergoing F-EVAR were on average 1-year older (median age [interquartile range]: 83 [82, 86] versus 82 [81, 85], P = 0.004) and more likely to be male (82% vs. 64%, P < 0.001) compared with OAR. Prevalence of diabetes (13% vs. 6%, P = 0.005) and progressive renal failure (57% vs. 47%, P = 0.03) was also higher in patients undergoing F-EVAR compared with OAR. Thirty-day postoperative mortality was higher after OAR (8.5% vs. 4.1%, P = 0.04). Secondary outcomes including cardiopulmonary (27.1% vs. 5.8%, P < 0.001) and renal injury (10.8% vs. 2.1%, P < 0.001) were also significantly higher in OAR compared with F-EVAR. After adjusting for patients' demographics and comorbidities, OAR had almost 4-fold increased risk of 30-day postoperative mortality compared with F-EVAR (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 3.90 [1.48-10.31], P = 0.006).
In this large national cohort of octogenarians undergoing repair for complex AAA's, we showed that F-EVAR is associated with significantly lower postoperative morbidity and mortality than open repair. One of the main limitations of the study is the lack of anatomical data. However, despite that, our findings support the shifting paradigm toward minimally invasive approach in this frail population for treatment of complex AAA's. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term benefit of any repair in octogenarians.
Locham S
,Faateh M
,Dakour-Aridi H
,Nejim B
,Malas M
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Frailty Among Veterans Undergoing Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair.
Frailty is a known risk factor for adverse outcomes following surgery and affects at least 3 of every 10 US Veterans aged 65 years and older. We designed a study to characterize the association between frailty and complications after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) compared to open aneurysm repair (OAR) at our regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Veterans who underwent either OAR or EVAR at our institution between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2020 were identified. We examined medical history, procedure characteristics, perioperative complications, and frailty as measured by the 5-factor modified frailty index (mFI-5). Frailty was defined as an mFI-5 score ≥2. Primary endpoints were postoperative complications, duration of surgery, and length of hospital stay. Tests of association were performed with t-test and chi-squared analysis.
Over the 21-year period, we identified 314 patients that underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair with 115 (36.6%) OAR and 199 EVAR (63.4%) procedures. Patients undergoing EVAR were older on average (72.1 years vs. 70.2 years) and had a higher average mFI-5 compared to the open repair group (1.49 vs. 1.23, P = 0.036). When comparing EVAR and OAR cohorts, patients undergoing OAR had a larger AAA diameter (6.5 cm, standard deviation [SD]: 1.5) compared to EVAR (5.5 cm, SD: 1.1 P < 0.0001). Fewer frail patients underwent OAR (n = 40, 34.8%) compared to EVAR (n = 86, 43.2%), and frail EVAR patients had higher AAA diameter (5.8 cm, SD: 1.0) compared to nonfrail EVAR patients (5.3 cm, SD 1.2), P = 0.003. Among OAR procedures, frail patients had longer operative times (296 min vs. 253 min, P = 0.013) and higher incidence of pneumonia (17.5% vs. 5.3%, P = 0.035). Among frail EVAR patients, operative time and perioperative complications including wound dehiscence, surgical site infection, and pneumonia were not significantly different than their nonfrail counterparts. Overall, frail patients had more early complications (n = 55, 43.7%) as compared to nonfrail patients (n = 48, 25.5%, P = 0.001). OAR patients had higher rates of postoperative complications including wound dehiscence (7.0% vs. 0.5%, P = 0.001), surgical site infections (7.0% vs. 1.0%, P = 0.003), and pneumonia (9.6% vs. 0.5%, P=<0.0001). Open repair was also associated with overall longer average intensive care unit stays (11.0 days vs. 1.6 days, P < 0.0001) and longer average hospitalizations (13.5 days vs. 2.4 days, P < 0.0001).
Our findings demonstrate that frailty is associated with higher rates of adverse outcomes in open repair compared to EVAR. Patients who underwent open repair had higher rates of wound dehiscence, surgical site infection, and pneumonia, compared to those undergoing endovascular repair. Frailty was associated with larger AAA diameter in the EVAR cohort and longer operative times, with higher frequency of postoperative pneumonia in the OAR cohort. Frailty is a strong risk factor that should be considered in the management of aortic aneurysms.
Chen AJ
,Yeh SL
,Ulloa JG
,Gelabert HA
,Rigberg DA
,de Virgilio CM
,O'Connell JB
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