JAMA surgery
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Review Meta Analysis
The effectiveness and risks of bariatric surgery: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis, 2003-2012.
The prevalence of obesity and outcomes of bariatric surgery are well established. However, analyses of the surgery impact have not been updated and comprehensively investigated since 2003. ⋯ Bariatric surgery provides substantial and sustained effects on weight loss and ameliorates obesity-attributable comorbidities in the majority of bariatric patients, although risks of complication, reoperation, and death exist. Death rates were lower than those reported in previous meta-analyses.
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Comparative Study
Smoking status and health care costs in the perioperative period: a population-based study.
Cigarette smoking adds an estimated $100 billion in annual incremental direct health care costs nationwide. Cigarette smoking increases complication risk in surgical patients, but the potential effects of smoking status on perioperative health care costs are unclear. ⋯ Compared with never smokers, health care costs during the first year after hospital discharge for an inpatient surgical procedure are higher in both former and current smokers, although the cost of the index hospitalization is not affected by smoking status.
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Diverticulitis of the sigmoid colon is an increasingly common disease. Patterns of care and management guidelines have significantly evolved in recent years. ⋯ The prior standard for proceeding with elective colectomy following 2 episodes of diverticulitis is no longer accepted. Decisions to proceed with colectomy should be made based on consideration of the risks of recurrent diverticulitis, the morbidity of surgery, ongoing symptoms, the complexity of disease, and operative risk. Laparoscopic surgery is preferred to open approaches. Recent evidence suggests that existing guidelines should be updated.
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Comparative Study
Association of high-volume hospitals with greater likelihood of discharge to home following colorectal surgery.
Discharge disposition is a patient-centered quality metric that reflects differences in quality of life and recovery following surgery. The effect of hospital volume on quality of recovery measured by rates of successful discharge to home remains unclear. ⋯ Patients having colorectal surgery at high-volume hospitals are significantly more likely to recover and return home after surgery than individuals having operations at low-volume hospitals. This study is the first step in a process of identifying which features of high-volume hospitals contribute toward desirable outcomes. Efforts to identify the reasons for improved recovery at high-volume hospitals can help lower-volume hospitals adopt beneficial practices.
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Racial disparities in mortality rates after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery are well established. We have yet to fully understand how care at high-mortality, low-quality hospitals contributes to racial disparities in surgical outcomes. ⋯ Hospital quality contributes significantly to racial disparities in outcomes after CABG surgery. However, a significant fraction of this racial disparity remains unexplained. Efforts to decrease racial disparities in health care should focus on underperforming centers of care treating disproportionately high numbers of nonwhite patients.