Factors contributing to intraoperative hypothermia in patients undergoing elective surgery

• Published in: Perioperative care and operating room management 2021-03, Vol.22, p.100150, Article 100150
• Main Authors: Peixoto, Camila de Assunção, Ferreira, Maria Beatriz Guimarães, dos Santos Felix, Márcia Marques, Pereira, Caroline Bueno de Moraes, Cândido, João Vitor, Rocha, Vinicius Ferreira Resende, Ferreira, Lúcia Aparecida, Barbosa, Maria Helena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hypothermia; Intraoperative Period; Perioperative Nursing; Risk Factors; Surgical Procedures, Operative
• ISSN: 2405-6030; 2405-6030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pcorm.2020.100150

: Perioperative hypothermia can result in serious complications, putting perioperative patients at risk and increasing the costs for health services. The present study aimed to evaluate intraoperative hypothermia incidence in patients undergoing elective surgery and associated factors. : Observational, prospective and quantitative study was performed in a public teaching hospital, with 278 patients undergoing elective surgery between March and May 2017. Data were collected through patient evaluation and anesthesia records in the medical records. An instrument with sociodemographic, clinical, and anesthetic-surgical variables was used in the pre and intraoperative periods. The study followed the recommendations STROBE. Simple frequency, measures of central tendency and variability, association measures (relative risk, odds ratio and confidence intervals) and logistic regression were used for data analysis. : The majority (194; 69.8%) of patients undergoing elective surgery presented intraoperative hypothermia. The age was statistically significant (p=0.002), indicating that the elderly were 3.2 fold more likely to develop hypothermia than adults. : Hypothermia is a frequent multifactorial event, and age was a critical factor for the occurrence of hypothermia.