Preoperative anemia and surgical outcomes following laparotomy in a resource-limited setting

Introduction: Anemia is a common and potentially modifiable condition in sub-Saharan Africa. We sought to determine the role of preoperative anemia on post laparotomy abdominal complications. Methods: We conducted a six-month prospective, observational study of patients age >12 years following laparotomy at a tertiary hospital in Malawi. The outcome was the occurrence of abdominal complications. Poisson regression analyses estimated the risk of abdominal complications in patients with moderate/severe anemia. Results: Of 280 patients, most were male (76.4%) with median age of 35 years (IQR 24-50). Abdominal complications developed in 34 patients (15.2%). Of the 224 patients with known preoperative hemoglobin 54 (20.7%) were moderately or severely anemic at the time of surgery. Patients with moderate-to-severe anemia had an increased risk of abdominal complications (RR 4.44, 95% CI 2.0-9.6). Conclusion: Anemia is a common but modifiable comorbidity among laparotomy patients and independently increases the risk of abdominal complications. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that preoperative anemia increases the risk of post laparotomy abdominal complications, indicating that anemia is a significant modifiable factor that needs attention.