Comparative Outcomes for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Surgery among Nursing Home Residents and Matched Community Dwelling Older Adults

Purpose: We compared short and long-term outcomes between nursing home residents and matched community dwelling older adults undergoing surgery for pelvic organ prolapse. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluates women 65 years old or older undergoing different types of pelvic organ prolapse repairs (anterior/posterior, apical and colpocleisis) between 2007 and 2012 using Medicare claims and the Minimum Data Set for Nursing Home Residents. Long-stay nursing home residents were identified and propensity score matched (1:2) to community dwelling older individuals based on procedure type, age, race and Charlson score. Generalized estimating equation models were created to determine the relative risk of hospital length of stay 3 or more days, 30-day complications and 1-year mortality between the 2 groups. Kaplan-Meier curves were created comparing 1-year mortality between groups. Results: There were 799 nursing home residents and 1,598 matched community dwelling older adults who underwent pelvic organ prolapse surgery and were included in our analyses. Nursing home residents demonstrated statistically significant increased risk for hospital length of stay 3 or more days (38.9% vs 18.6%, adjusted RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.8-2.4), 30-day complications (15.1% vs 3.8%, aRR 3.9, 95% CI 2.9-5.3) and 1-year mortality (11.1% vs 3.2%, aRR 3.5, 95% CI 2.5-4.8) compared to community dwelling older adults. Kaplan-Meier curves illustrated similar survival findings at 1 year (11.1%, 95% CI 9.0-13.3 vs 3.2%, 95% CI 2.3-4.1, p<0.0001). Conclusions: Despite matching on several characteristics, nursing home residents demonstrated worse short and long-term outcomes compared to community dwelling older adults, suggesting other key vulnerabilities exist that contribute additional surgical risk in this population.

Automated summary

The study compared short and long-term outcomes of nursing home residents and community dwelling older adults undergoing surgery for pelvic organ prolapse. Despite matching on several characteristics, nursing home residents showed increased risk of longer hospital stay, complications, and mortality compared to community dwelling older adults, suggesting additional vulnerabilities contributing to surgical risk in this population.