Articles: surgery.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Perioperative Mortality of the COVID-19 Recovered Patient Compared to a Matched Control: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.
Surgical procedures performed on patients with recent exposure to COVID-19 infection have been associated with increased mortality risk in previous studies. Accordingly, elective surgery is often delayed after infection. The study aimed to compare 30-day hospital mortality and postoperative complications (acute kidney injury, pulmonary complications) of surgical patients with a previous COVID-19 infection to a matched cohort of patients without known previous COVID-19. The authors hypothesized that COVID-19 exposure would be associated with an increased mortality risk. ⋯ Patients with a positive test for COVID-19 before elective surgery early in the pandemic have an elevated risk of perioperative mortality and pulmonary complications but not acute kidney injury as compared to matched controls. The span of time from positive test to time of surgery affected the mortality and pulmonary risk, which subsided after 2 weeks.