JAMA surgery
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If changes over time in trauma care apply to both firearm injuries and motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) similarly, differences in mechanism-specific case-fatality trends may suggest changes over time in injury severity. ⋯ Stagnant case-fatality percentages for firearm injuries juxtaposed to improvements for MVCs across age-groups and ISS categories suggests worsening severity of firearm injuries over the study period.
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Prior studies have found a substantial risk of persistent opioid use among adolescents and young adults undergoing surgical and dental procedures. It is unknown whether family-level factors, such as long-term opioid use in family members, is associated with persistent opioid use. ⋯ The findings suggest that long-term opioid use among family members is associated with persistent opioid use among opioid-naive adolescents and young adults undergoing surgical and dental procedures. Physicians should screen young patients for long-term opioid use in their families and implement heightened efforts to prevent opioid dependence among patients with this important risk factor.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Effectiveness of Prophylactic Intraperitoneal Mesh Implantation for Prevention of Incisional Hernia in Patients Undergoing Open Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Incisional hernia is a frequent complication after open abdominal surgery. Prophylactic mesh implantation in the onlay or sublay position requires dissection of the abdominal wall, potentially leading to wound-associated complications. ⋯ In patients at elevated risk for incisional hernia, prophylactic intraperitoneal mesh implantation reduces the incidence of hernia formation but with increased early postoperative pain and prolonged wound healing of surgical site infection.
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The single greatest predictor of the amount of opioid used after surgical discharge is the amount of postoperative opioid prescribed.
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The Fragility Index (FI) is the minimum number of participants in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) whose status would have to change from a nonevent (not experiencing the primary end point) to an event (experiencing the primary end point) required to turn a statistically significant result to a nonsignificant result. The FI measures the robustness (or fragility) of the results of an RCT and is an important aid to the clinician's interpretation of RCT results. It has now been recognized that RCTs, which provide the foundation for treatment guideline recommendations, may not be robust. ⋯ The provision of high-quality, evidence-based clinical care in surgery for optimal patient outcomes requires a foundation of robust clinical research evidence, and knowledge of the FI will assist in future surgical RCT design. We strongly recommend the routine reporting of FI scores for all future trauma and surgical RCTs to assist in appropriate and optimal decision making in the care of patients who have experienced trauma and/or need surgery. We also recommend the routine inclusion of the FI score in the development of clinical guidelines to assist the clinician in ascertaining whether guideline recommendations are robust. Surgeons should be aware to particularly exercise caution when considering a potential change in clinical practice based on RCTs with a low FI score.