RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Distance travelled to hospital for emergency laparotomy and the effect of travel time on mortality: cohort study
JF BMJ Quality & Safety
JO BMJ Qual Saf
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP bmjqs-2019-010747
DO 10.1136/bmjqs-2019-010747
A1 Tom Salih
A1 Peter Martin
A1 Tom Poulton
A1 Charles M Oliver
A1 Mike G Bassett
A1 S Ramani Moonesinghe
A1 ,
YR 2020
UL http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/early/2020/06/23/bmjqs-2019-010747.abstract
AB Objectives To evaluate whether distance and estimated travel time to hospital for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy is associated with postoperative mortality.Design National cohort study using data from the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit.Setting 171 National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales.Participants 22 772 adult patients undergoing emergency surgery on the gastrointestinal tract between 2013 and 2016.Main outcome measures Mortality from any cause and in any place at 30 and 90 days after surgery.Results Median on-road distance between home and hospital was 8.4 km (IQR 4.7–16.7 km) with a median estimated travel time of 16 min. Median time from hospital admission to operating theatre was 12.7 hours. Older patients live on average further from hospital and patients from areas of increased socioeconomic deprivation live on average less far away.We included estimated travel time as a continuous variable in multilevel logistic regression models adjusting for important confounders and found no evidence for an association with 30-day mortality (OR per 10 min of travel time=1.02, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.06, p=0.512) or 90-day mortality (OR 1.02, 95 % CI 0.97 to 1.06, p=0.472).The results were similar when we limited our analysis to the subgroup of 5386 patients undergoing the most urgent surgery. 30-day mortality: OR=1.02 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.10, p=0.574) and 90-day mortality: OR=1.01 (95% CI 0.94 to 1.08, p=0.858).Conclusions In the UK NHS, estimated travel time between home and hospital was not a primary determinant of short-term mortality following emergency gastrointestinal surgery.