Middle-aged men are about 50 percent more likely to die after surgery than women of the same age, according to a new German scientific study that highlights the “inequality” of the sexes in terms of postoperative risks.
The study, led by Dr. Dimislav Antonov of the Technical University of Munich, presented at the online conference of the European Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC), analyzed data from more than 100,000 non-cardiologically elderly patients. 54 years old, a leading German university hospital, who had undergone scheduled surgeries. Research has found that postoperative mortality is higher in men 40 to 80 years old than in women of the same age.
Some previous studies had found that gender may affect postoperative complications, but had not reached definitive conclusions. New research on a variety of surgeries (cancer removal, hip replacement, acute appendicitis, car accident victims, etc.) seems to show convincingly that men are more at risk after surgery.
The study did not find any association between patients under the age of 40 between gender and the likelihood of admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), intubation or death. But over the age of 40, it has been found that a man who has undergone surgery is more likely to be admitted to the ICU, intubated or die later than a woman of the same age.
More specifically, men 41 to 60 years old are 22% more likely than women, after surgery, to be admitted to the ICU, 36% to be intubated and 54% to die. Men 61 to 80 years of age are respectively 20% more likely to be admitted to the ICU than women of the same age, 31% to be intubated and 38% to die. But over the age of 80, the risk for men and women is about the same for ICU admission, intubation and death.
It is not clear, according to researchers, why men 40-80 years old are more at risk. One possible explanation is that they have more common cardiovascular problems and this makes postoperative complications more likely. Also, the greater reluctance of men to visit doctors may play a role, as men generally do less “check-ups” than women.
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