A study published in the Annals of Surgery (December 20, 2024) examined the impact of perioperative glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use on surgical complications in patients with diabetes.
Key Findings:
Study Overview: The study, led by Seth Z. Aschen, M.D., from Weill Cornell Medicine, focused on patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who underwent surgery between February 2020 and July 2023. It analyzed the rates of surgical complications and postoperative readmission in patients with and without perioperative GLP-1 RA prescriptions.
Patient Group: A total of 74,425 surgical procedures in 21,772 patients were included, with 27.2% of these procedures involving an active GLP-1 RA prescription.
Results:
Patients with an active GLP-1 RA prescription had significantly lower risks of 30-day readmission, 180-day postoperative wound dehiscence, and postoperative hematoma after adjusting for propensity scores.
The relative risks were found to be 0.883 for readmission, 0.711 for wound dehiscence, and 0.440 for hematoma.
The rates of infection and bleeding did not differ significantly between the groups.
Conclusion
The study concludes that GLP-1 RA use in the perioperative period is associated with a reduced risk of complications like readmission, wound dehiscence, and hematoma in diabetic patients undergoing surgery. With the increasing use of GLP-1 RAs in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients, understanding their impact on postoperative outcomes is becoming more crucial.
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