JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – An enhanced recovery protocol after colorectal surgery nearly eliminated differences in hospital stays between black and white patients, according to a study based on data from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Tyler S. Wahl, a resident at UAB reported on the institution’s experience with the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathway at the Association of Academic Surgery/Society of University Surgeons Academic Surgical Congress. “ERAS has been shown to reduce length of stay, cost, and perioperative complications without compromising readmission or mortality rates,” Dr. Wahl said. Dr. Daniel Chu was senior author.
Dr. Tyler S. Wahl
Surgical literature has increasingly demonstrated disparities among black patients undergoing major surgery: longer lengths of stay, more readmissions, increased postoperative mortality and lower survival rates after colorectal cancer resections, Dr. Wahl said. The UAB investigators set out to determine whether the ERAS pathway would reduce disparities in length of stay among black and white patients when compared to the traditional pathway.
Before UAB started using ERAS for colorectal patients, the average length of stay for patients undergoing colorectal surgery was 6.7 days with significant differences between black and white patients: 8 days vs. 6.1 days, respectively. However, after implementation of the ERAS pathway in January 2015, average length of stay declined to 4.7 days overall. Black patients had dramatic reductions in length of stay, compared with white patients, with stays of 3.9 days vs. 5 days, respectively.
“Not only were patients leaving much earlier, but their length of stay was also shorter than predicted using the American College of Surgeons Risk Calculator,” Dr. Wahl said.
The UAB study was a retrospective, matched cohort analysis of 258 patients – 129 patients from pre-ERAS years were compared with 129 ERAS patients from January to October 2015.
Study subjects were similar in many patient- and procedure-specific factors; however, differences in operative approach, indication, ostomy formation, and operative time did not change the predicted length of stay among races, Dr. Wahl said.
Dr. Wahl said the racial makeup of the study differs from most ERAS literature in colorectal patients. “The overall percentage of the African American population was 30% within our study, as most ERAS literature has 10% or less,” he added.
“Further work needs to be pursued to find what’s driving these dramatic results among the black population,” he said.
Dr. Wahl and coauthors had no disclosures.