Predicting 30-Day Mortality After Colorectal Cancer Surgery

For some conditions, the likelihood of death within 30 days after surgery can be predicted by patient age, comorbidity, disease stage, and factors such as hospital volume or surgeon volume. Now, researchers in the U.K. have used the National Cancer Data Repository to examine predictors of 30-day mortality after surgery for colorectal cancer. The study included 160,290 patients who underwent major resection for a primary colorectal cancer diagnosed in the English National Health System between 1998 and 2006.

Postoperative mortality declined slightly during the study period, from 6.9% to 5.9%. Numerous significant predictors of death were identified, including male sex (6.8%, vs. 6.5% for females), increasing age (15.0% for patients aged >80 v…