Association of preoperative anaesthesia consultation prior to elective noncardiac surgery with patient and health system outcomes: a population-based study.

Background: Surgical volumes and use of preoperative anaesthesia consultations are increasing. However, contemporary data estimating the association between preoperative anaesthesia consultation and patient (days alive and at home [DAH], mortality) and system (costs, length of stay, and readmissions) outcomes are not available.

Methods: We conducted a population-based comparative effectiveness study using linked health administrative data among patients aged ≥40 yr who underwent intermediate-risk to high-risk elective, inpatient, noncardiac surgery in Ontario, Canada (2009-17). Our primary outcome was DAH. Secondary outcomes included DAH, 30-day and 1-yr mortality, 30-day health system costs, length of index admission, and 30-day readmissions. Propensity score overlap weights were used to adjust for confounders. Prespecified effect modifier analyses focused on high-risk subgroups.

Results: Among 364 149 patients, 274 365 (75.3%) received a preoperative anaesthesia consultation. No adjusted association was found (22.5 days vs 22.5 days; adjusted ratio of means 1.00, 95% CI 1.00-1.00) between consultation and DAH in the full population. We identified significant effect modification (significantly more DAH) among patients with ischaemic heart disease, ASA physical status ≥4, frailty index score ≥0.21, and who underwent vascular surgery. Secondary outcomes were associated with preoperative consultation, including greater DAH, decreased length of stay, lower 30-day and 1-yr mortality, and reduced 30-day costs.

Conclusions: Preoperative anaesthesia consultation was not associated with greater DAH across the overall study population. However, important potential benefits were observed among high-risk subgroups. Research is needed to identify optimal patient populations and consultation processes.