Socioeconomic Position Is Not Associated With 30-Day or 1-Year Mortality in Demographically Diverse Vascular Surgery Patients

• Published in: Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia 2012-06, Vol.26 (3), p.420-426
• Main Authors: Mazzeffi, Michael, MD, Lin, Hung-Mo, PhD, Flynn, Brigid C., MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anesthesia & Perioperative Care; Critical Care; Female; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Middle Aged; New York City - epidemiology; outcomes; peripheral vascular disease; Peripheral Vascular Diseases - mortality; Peripheral Vascular Diseases - surgery; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; socioeconomic position; Treatment Outcome; vascular surgery; Vascular Surgical Procedures - mortality
• ISSN: 1053-0770; 1532-8422
• DOI: 10.1053/j.jvca.2011.09.005

Objectives Disparities in outcomes after surgical procedures have been attributed to race, sex, use of private insurance, and socioeconomic position (SEP). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of SEP on mortality after lower-extremity bypass (LEB) surgery in a diverse patient population with extremes of SEP. Design Analysis of an electronic medical database. Setting A tertiary care hospital in a demographically diverse section of a large metropolitan area. Participants Six hundred nine (158 white men, 156 nonwhite men, 100 white women, and 195 non-white women) patients undergoing infrarenal lower-extremity arterial bypass surgery from July 1, 2002, to December 31, 2007. Measurements and Results SEP was estimated using data from the 2000 US Census. The effects of race, sex, various comorbidities, the Revised Cardiac Risk Index, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status, use of private insurance, indication for bypass surgery, and SEP on all-cause mortality was analyzed. SEP differed significantly among the 4 race-sex groups, with white men having the highest position (mean = 2.38) and non-white men having the lowest position (mean = −3.02). There was no statistically significant association in 30-day mortality among race-sex groups or with SEP. One-year mortality differed significantly between men and women for the entire cohort (13.7% and 24.1%, respectively; p < 0.01) but not among race groups or SEP. Conclusions Disparities in SEP are not associated with short- or long-term mortality after LEB surgery. Other comorbid risk factors are more important when determining outcomes and should be the focus of interventions to improve outcomes.