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Determining the impact of individual ventral hernia repair complications on patient-reported quality of life

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Abstract

Purpose

Ventral hernia repair (VHR) postoperative complications vary in presentation, management, and severity. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of individual postoperative complications on long-term quality of life (QoL) after VHR.

Methods

Data from the Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative were analyzed retrospectively. Propensity score matching compared 1-year postoperative Hernia-Related Quality of Life Survey (HerQLes) summary scores between non-wound events (NWE), surgical site infection (SSI), and surgical site occurrence requiring procedural intervention (SSOPI) versus No-Complications.

Results

2796 patients who underwent VHR between 2013 and 2022 met the study criteria. Patients with SSI and SSOPI had lower QoL vs No-Complications (median (Interquartile range): 71 (40–92) vs 83 (52–94), P = 0.02; 68 (40–90) vs 78 (55–95), P = 0.008). NWE vs no-complications HerQLes score differences were similar (83 (53–92) vs 83 (60–93), P = 0.19).

Conclusion

Wound events seem to have larger impact on patients’ long-term QoL compared to NWE. Continued and aggressive efforts including preoperative optimization, technical points, and appropriate use of minimally invasive techniques can continue to reduce impactful wound events.

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Data Availability

This research study was conducted retrospectively from de-identified data from the Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative (ACHQC). The data is available upon request and approval through the ACHQC.

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Acknowledgements

None.

Funding

This study did not receive any funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Abdominal Core Health, Department of Surgery, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 410 W 10th Ave., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    R. Alzatari, R. Hassanein & B. K. Poulose

  2. Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dublin Campus, Dublin, OH, USA

    R. Alzatari

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    L.-C. Huang

  4. Department of General Surgery, Avita Health System, Galion, OH, USA

    J. Doble

Authors
  1. R. Alzatari
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  2. R. Hassanein
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  3. J. Doble
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  4. L.-C. Huang
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  5. B. K. Poulose
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Contributions

All contributors to this study who meet authorship criteria are listed as authors. All authors certify that they have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content, including participation in the concept, design, analysis, writing, or editing of the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Alzatari.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Benjamin Poulose: Has received research support from Bard-Davol and Advanced Medical Solutions; he receives salary support from the ACHQC as the ACHQC Director for Quality and Outcomes. Ramez Alzatari, Justin Doble, Roukaya Hassanein, and Li-Ching Huang declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The institutional review board of The Ohio State University determined that the study did not need ethical approval. An institutional review board official waiver of ethical approval was granted from the institutional review board of The Ohio State University.

Informed consent

This analysis was determined from obtaining informed consent by the IRB at The Ohio State University.

Human and animal rights

This analysis did not directly involve humans. The data was obtained from a national hernia database.

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Alzatari, R., Hassanein, R., Doble, J. et al. Determining the impact of individual ventral hernia repair complications on patient-reported quality of life. Hernia 27, 687–694 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10029-023-02800-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10029-023-02800-4

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