Objective: To investigate the effect of the postponement of elective surgeries on the quality of life of the patients and to examine the post-operative COVID-19 rates of patients who underwent elective surgery and investigate the associated risk factors.
Methods: In this retrospective study, 187 patients who underwent elective surgery between June and July 2020 and between January and May 2021 were examined. Age, gender, occupation, comorbidity, time of surgical delay, type of surgery, hospitalization, and follow-up periods were recorded. Surgeries were categorized under four headings; knee arthroscopy, arthroplasty, rotator cuff repair/impingement, and minor surgery. To examine the quality of life of all operated patients, a validated Turkish version of EQ-5D-3L was used. All patients were questioned on phone to identify the risk factors for transmission. Statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS 26.0 version.
Results: Among the 187 patients evaluated in the study, 40 patients (21.4%) were diagnosed nCOV-19 during the postoperative period. Regardless of the type of surgery performed, mobility, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression scores were increased significantly postoperatively (p<0.05 for each). A significant relationship was found between younger age, surgery type, shorter hospitalization period, a greater number of visits to the outpatient clinic, longer follow-up period, history of nCOV-19 preoperatively, diagnosis of nCOV-19 among relatives, and the diagnosis of nCOV-19 after surgery (p<0.05 for each).
Conclusion: By taking all possible precautions and avoiding identifiable risk factors, thus eliminating the risk of COVID-19 transmission as much as possible and then performing elective surgeries will significantly increase the quality of life of the patients.
Primary Language | English |
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Subjects | Orthopaedics |
Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | July 1, 2022 |
Submission Date | February 2, 2022 |
Published in Issue | Year 2022 |