Global Prevalence of Perioperative Outcomes of Surgical Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-73572/v1

Abstract

Background: Surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is too challenging globally especially for low and middle-income countries in which the limping health care system is broken with low testing capacity, sub-optimal postoperative care, lack of anesthesia machine filters, and limited personal protective equipment. Body of evidence is lacking on the prevalence of perioperative outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Therefore, this study is aimed to provide the global prevalence of perioperative outcomes of patients with COVID-19.

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed/Medline; Science direct and LILACS from December 2019 to August 2020 without language restriction. The Heterogeneity among the included studies was checked with forest plot, χ2 test, I2 test, and the p-values. All observational studies reporting the prevalence of mortality were included.

Results: A total of 515 articles were identified from different databases and 50 articles were selected for evaluation after the successive screening. Twenty-three articles with 2947 participants were included. The Meta-Analysis revealed that the global prevalence of perioperative mortality among COVID-19 patients was 20% (95% CI: 15 to 26). The Meta-Analysis also revealed that the rate of postoperative ICU admission was 15% (95% confidence interval (CI):10 to 21).

Conclusion: There is one death for every five COVID-19 patients undergoing surgical procedures which entails mitigating strategies to decrease perioperative mortality, provide less risky anesthetic techniques, and alternative management other than surgical procedures.

Registration: This systematic review and meta-analysis was registered in Prospero's international prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42020203362) on August 10, 2020.

1. Background

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) Virus that causes Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, Hubei province of China in December 2019 by the Chinese Center for Disease and Prevention from the throat swab of a patient(1). The Coronavirus infection mainly affects the respiratory system and is presented with fever, dry cough, and difficulty of breathing, and lately, the patient may deteriorate associated with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome(2–5).

World Health Organization (WHO) situational report revealed that there were more than 20 million laboratory-confirmed cases and 700 thousand deaths globally as of August13, 2020(6). The American region accounted for the highest number of cases and deaths which was 10 million and 400 thousand respectively(6). The European region accounted for the second-highest confirmed cases and death which were more than 3 million confirmed cases and 200 thousand deaths. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged in the Western Pacific region, China, Hwan city, the number of infected cases, and deaths was the lowest as compared to the American and European regions(6). The number of laboratory-confirmed cases and deaths in the African region was the lowest for the last couple of months but the rate of spreading in this region is increasing at an alarming rate and expected to be very high in the next couple of months if it continues as this rate(6–8).

The last couple of months’ reports in Ethiopia were very low but there were many cases in short periods which is approximately 1000 cases and 10 deaths per day. It is estimated that the number even may be very high because the diagnosis is limited only in big cities.

The challenge of COVID-19 is very high globally due to a lack of proven treatment and the complexity of its transmission (9–13). However, the impact is more catastrophic for low and middle-income countries because of very poor health care system, high illiteracy and low awareness of the disease and its prevention, lack of skilled health personnel, scarce Intensive Care Unit, a limited number of mechanical ventilators, and prevalence of co-morbidities/infection along with malnutrition(8, 13–15).

Epidemiological studies showed that patients with co-morbidities including (Asthma, COPD, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, renal disease, hepatic disease, and cardiac disease), history of smoking, and history of substance use, male gender and age greater than 60 years were more likely to die or develop undesirable outcomes(16–19).

The outcomes of patients with coronavirus infection undergoing surgery are very variable. Studies revealed that in-hospital mortality of patients with COVID-19 was very high which varied from 1% 52% of the hospitalized patient(20, 21).

Body of evidence showed that patients visiting the health institution during the COVID-19 pandemic decrease significantly despite requiring medical care which affects significantly the non-COVID-19 patients’ hospital admission(22–26).

The COVID-19 pandemic imposes a significant challenge on health care delivery along with economic, social, and mental health crisis (8–11, 23, 27–36).

Surgery during the COVID-19 outbreak is too challenging to the patient, health care workers, and non-COVID-19 patients(27, 28, 31, 37–40) particularly for low and middle-income countries where the limping health care systems were broken with low testing capacity, sub-optimal postoperative care, lack of anesthesia machine filters and limited personal protective equipment(41–44).

Evidence revealed that mortality of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was very high which is strongly associated with the presence of comorbidities, smoking, and substance use (16, 18, 27, 32, 39, 45–47).

Some studies showed that perioperative mortality of patients with COVID-19 was very high(23, 25, 39, 48–50) while some studies failed to identify significant mortality among patients with COVID-19 undergoing surgical procedures(21, 47, 51, 52).

Investigating the global prevalence and determinants of perioperative outcomes among patients with COVID-19 undergoing a surgical procedure is very important to reduce patient mortality and morbidity through varies strategies including but not limited to the provision of alternative non-surgical intervention for a moderate and severe case, increasing the number of ICU beds, mechanical ventilator, skilled professionals, and integrated monitors and reducing possible risk factors. Therefore, this systematic review and Meta-Analysis aimed to provide global evidence on the prevalence and determinants of perioperative outcomes among patients with COVID-19 undergoing surgical procedures.

2. Methods

2.1. Protocol and registration

The systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) protocols(53). This systematic review and meta-analysis were registered in Prospero's international prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42020203362) on August 10, 2020.

2.2. Eligibility criteria

2.2.1. Types of studies

All observational (case series, cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control) studies reporting the prevalence of mortality and its determinants among surgical patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were incorporated.

2.2.2. Types of participants

All participants with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to the hospital for any kind of care were included.

2.2.3. Outcomes of interest

The primary outcomes of interest were the global prevalence of mortality, morbidity, and complications among patients with COVID-19 worldwide. The number of Lengths of hospital stay and the number of days on a mechanical ventilator was secondary outcomes.

2.2.4. Context

This systematic review incorporated studies conducted worldwide to assess the prevalence of mortality and determinants among surgical patients with COVID-19 underwent surgical procedures

2.2.5. Inclusion criteria

The review included all observational studies conducted to assess mortality in patients with COVID19 who underwent surgical producers.

2.2.6. Exclusion criteria

Studies that didn’t report the prevalence of mortality among surgical patients with COVID-19, articles that didn’t report full information for data extraction, articles with different outcomes of interest, studies with a methodological score less than fifty percent, studies with randomized controlled trials, and Systemic review study design were excluded.

2.3. Search strategy

The search strategy was conducted to explore all available published and unpublished studies among surgical COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital from December 2019 to August 2020 without language restrictions. A comprehensive search was employed in this review. An initial search on PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library was carried out followed by an analysis of the text words contained in Title/Abstract and indexed terms. A second search was undertaken by combining free text words and indexed terms with Boolean operators. The third search was conducted with the reference lists of all identified reports and articles for additional studies. Finally, an additional and grey literature search was conducted on Google scholars. The PubMed was searched with the following search terms using PICO strategy as: (((((((((((((((((((COVID-19) OR (coronavirus[Title/Abstract])) OR (SARS-CoV-2[Title/Abstract])) AND (surgery[Title/Abstract])) OR (operation[Title/Abstract])) OR (preoperative[Title/Abstract])) OR (perioperative[Title/Abstract])) OR (postoperative[Title/Abstract])) AND (outcomes[Title/Abstract])) OR (mortality[Title/Abstract])) OR (death[Title/Abstract])) OR (morbidity[Title/Abstract])) OR (hospital stay[Title/Abstract])) OR (complication[Title/Abstract])) OR (infection[Title/Abstract])) OR (ARDS[Title/Abstract])) AND (anesthesia[Title/Abstract])) OR (general[Title/Abstract])) OR (regional[Title/Abstract])) OR (spinal [Title/Abstract])))))))))))))))))))

The final search results were shown with the Prisma flow diagram (Fig 1).

2.4. Data extraction

The data from each study were extracted with two independent authors with a customized format excel sheet. The disagreements between the two independent authors were resolved by the third author. The extracted data included: Author names, country, date of publication, sample size, events mortality, need of postoperative mechanical ventilator, the number of days on a mechanical ventilator, presence of co-morbidities, and complication. Finally, the data were then imported for analysis in R software version 4.0.2 and STATA 16.

2.5. Assessment of methodological quality

Articles identified for retrieval were assessed by two independent Authors for methodological quality before inclusion in the review using a standardized critical appraisal Tool adapted from the Joanna Briggs Institute(supplemental Table1). The disagreements between the Authors appraising the articles were resolved through discussion. Articles with average scores greater than fifty percent were included for data extraction.

2.6. Data analysis

 Data analysis was carried out in R statistical software version 4.0.2 and STATA 16. The pooled global prevalence of mortality, comorbidity, and complication among surgical patients with COVID-19 was determined with a random effect model as there was substantial heterogeneity. The Heterogeneity among the included studies was checked with forest plot, χ2 test, I2 test, and the p-values. Substantial heterogeneity among the included studies was investigated with subgroup analysis.

Publication bias was checked with a funnel plot and the objective diagnostic test was conducted with Egger's correlation, Begg's regression tests, and Trim and fill method. Furthermore, moderator analysis was carried out to identify the independent predictors of mortality among corona cases. The results were presented based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA)(53).

3. Results

3.1. Selection of studies

A total of 515 articles were identified from different databases and 50 articles were selected for evaluation after the successive screening. Twenty-three articles with 2947 participants were included and the rest were excluded with reasons (27, 30-33, 51, 54-69) (Fig 1).

3.2. Description of included studies

Twenty-three Articles with 2947 participants were included in the review while twenty-two studies were included in the Meta-Analysis for the prevalence of mortality. Studies with the prevalence of mortality and/or prevalence of comorbidity and prevalence of complications among surgical patients with COVID-19 were included and the characteristics of each included studies were described in (Table 1) and the rest were excluded with reasons.

The included studies were published from December 16, 2019, to June 1, 2020, with sample sizes, ranged from 3 to 1128. The mean (SD) ages of the included studies varied from 33.7±2.75 to 85±8.75 years.

The majority of the included studies were conducted United Kingdom (7), China (6), USA (3), and Spain (2) (1, 16, 19, 70-88). Five studies were conducted in India, Italy, France, Portugal, and Turkey. Twenty-one of the included studies reported the prevalence of mortality among surgical patients with COVID-19 while two of the included studies didn’t report the prevalence of mortality among surgical COVID-19 patients in the hospital. The prevalence of mortality in surgical patients with COVID-19 from the included studies varied from 1% to 92%.

Ten studies with 2134 participants reported the prevalence of comorbidity including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and dementia as the major comorbidity among surgical patients with COVID-19 while ten studies with 1920 participants reporting the prevalence of complications including pulmonary, acute kidney injury, myocardial Infarction, Thromboembolic disease, infection, and deep wound infection as the major complications.

The prevalence of ICU admission was reported in ten of the included studies while the overall length of hospital stay was reported in thirteen of the included studies. 

Table 1 description of included studies

Author

Study period

Country

sample

Category

Urgency

quality

P(95% CI

Bhangu et al(45)

Jan 1 to March 31, 2020

UK

1128

Any

Any

Low risk

24[21,26]

Cai et al(48)

February, 2020

China

7

Any

Any

Low risk

43[10,82]

Casanova et al(21)

March 11 to May 15, 2020

Portugal

148

Cardiac

Emergency

Low risk

1[0,5]

Cheung et al(89)

March 1 to May 22, 2020

USA

10

Orthopedics

Emergency

Low risk

10[0,45]

Doglietto et al(90)

Feb 1, April 23

Italy

41

Any

Any

Low risk

20[9,35]

Dursun et al(23)

March 10 to May 20, 2020

Turkey

200

Gynecology

Elective

Low risk

12[8,17]

Egol et al(29)

Feb 1 to April 15, 2020

USA

253

Orthopedics

Elective

Low risk

7[4.11]

Kayani et al(38)

Feb 1 to April, 2020

UK

82

Orthopedics

Elective

Low risk

30[21,42]

LeBrun et al(49)

March 20 to April 24, 2020

USA

9

Orthopedics

Any

Low risk

78[40,97]

Lei et al(91)

Jan 1 to Feb 5, 2020

China

34

Any

Any

Low risk

21[9,38]

Li et al(92)

Jan 1 to Feb 5, 2020

China

54

Any

Emergency

Low risk

15[7,27]

Macey et al(60)

Dec to March 2020

UK

76

Orthopedics

Any

Low risk

28[18,39]

Martino et al(93)

Feb 17 to March 31, 2020

Spain

15

Any

Any

Low risk

20[4,48]

Mi et al(94)

Jan 1 to Feb 27,2020

China

3

Orthopedics

Any

Low risk

20[4,48]

Pai et al(25)

March 24 to May 31, 2020

India

184

Any

Elective

Low risk

20[14,26]

Peng et al(50)

January 2020

China

11

Thoracic

Any

Low risk

27[6,61]

Rajasekaran et al(20)

March 12 to May 12, 2020

UK

56

Orthopedics

Any

Low risk

4[0,12]

Santiago et al(95)

March to May, 2020

Spain

126

Gynecology

Elective

Low risk

12[7,19]

Seeliger et al(20)

March 1 to May 23, 2020

France

13

Any

Emergency

Low risk

92[64,100]

Sobti et al(46)

March 1 to May 31, 2020

UK

206

Orthopedics

Any

Low risk

4[2,8]

Stevenson et al(96)

March 4 to May 22, 2020

UK

100

Orthopedics

Elective

Low risk

7[3,14]

Stoneham et al(52)

March 1 to June 1,2020

UK

48

Orthopedics

Elective

Low risk

-

Zhang et al(47)

Jan 1 to March 20, 2020

China

133

Obstetrics

Both

Low risk

-

4. Meta-analysis

4.1. Global Prevalence of perioperative mortality

Twenty-one studies reported the prevalence of perioperative mortality among surgical patients with COVID-19. The pooled prevalence of perioperative mortality was 20% (95% CI: 15 to 26, 21 studies, and 2756 participants) (Fig 2).

The sub-group analysis was conducted by country, surgical category, and urgency of surgery. The sub-group analysis revealed that perioperative mortality was the highest among emergency surgical patients, 29% (95% confidence interval (CI):-4 to 62%) (Fig3). The perioperative mortality among surgical patients with COVID-19 was found to be higher in France followed by the USA, 92% (95% confidence interval (CI): 64 to 100) and 29% (95% confidence interval (CI):-4 to 62) respectively (supplemental Fig 1). Besides, the perioperative mortality was the highest among any surgical category followed by Orthopedics (supplemental Fig 2).

4.2. Prevalence of perioperative morbidity

The Meta-Analysis revealed that the prevalence of perioperative morbidity among surgical patients with COVID-19 was 18% (95% CI: 10 to 25, 10 studies, 2134 participants) (Fig 3). The sub-group analysis revealed that dementia, DM, and hypertension were the most common comorbidities among surgical patients with COVID-19, 78% (95% confidence interval (CI):40 to 97), 20% (95% confidence interval (CI): 9 to 35) and 15% (95% confidence interval (CI):4 to 25) respectively (supplemental Fig 3).

4.3. Prevalence of perioperative complication

The pooled prevalence of perioperative complications was estimated by taking the commonest reported complication among others. The Meta-Analysis showed that the pooled prevalence of perioperative complications among surgical patients with COVID-19 was 14% (95% confidence interval (CI):7 to 22, ten studies, and 1920) participants (Fig 4). The subgroup analysis revealed that Thromboembolic complication, infection, and pulmonary complications were the most common perioperative complications among surgical patients with COVID-19 (supplemental Fig 4).

4.4. Mean Duration of hospitalization

The pooled mean duration of hospitalization was estimated from included studies mean duration of hospitalization. The Meta-Analysis revealed that the mean duration of Hospitalization was 10.55 (95% confidence interval (CI): 8.08 to 13.03, 13 studies, 2269 participants) (Fig 5).

4.5. Rate of postoperative ICU admission

The Meta-Analysis revealed that the rate postoperative ICU admission among surgical patients with COVID-19 was 15% (95% confidence interval (CI):10 to 21, 10 studies, 983 participants) (Fig 6).

4.6 Prevalence of clinical presentation

Plenty of clinical manifestations were mentioned in included studies including fever, dry cough, dyspnea, sore throat, and diarrhea. The prevalence of clinical presentation among surgical patients with COVID-19 was 26% (95% confidence interval (CI): 14 to 39, 9 studies, and 1461 participants) (Fig 7).

4.7. Meta-regression

The Meta-Analysis showed a substantial heterogeneity between the included studies which entails Meta-regression to identify the sources of heterogeneity. Regression Analysis was run for perioperative outcomes with mean age, length of hospital stay, and urgency of surgery moderators. However, none of the moderators showed significant association (P-Value >0.05).

4.8. Sensitivity analysis and publication bias

Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the most influential study on the pooled summary effect and we didn’t find a significant influencing summary effect. The funnel plot didn’t show significant publication bias. Besides, egger’s regression and Begg’s correlation rank correlation failed to show a significant difference (p=0.339 and p=2.862) respectively (Fig 8).

5. Discussion

The Meta-Analysis revealed that the global prevalence of perioperative mortality among surgical patients with COVID-19 was 20% (95% CI: 15 to 26). The sub-group analysis showed that perioperative mortality among COVID-19 patients was very high in patients with emergency surgery, and among studies that included different surgical categories. However, the prevalence of perioperative mortality among COVID-19 patients was the highest in patients with orthopedics surgical procedures. This discrepancy could be explained by the inclusion of low powered included studies in the case of any surgical procedures.

The lower prevalence of perioperative mortality among orthopedic patients compared to other surgical procedures could be because these patients underwent the surgical procedure under spinal anesthesia which decreases airway manipulation, aspiration, postoperative delirium, thromboembolic disease and also improves rapid oral intake and early ambulation.

The Meta-Analysis showed that the prevalence of comorbidity among surgical patients was with COVID-19 was 18% (95% CI: 10 to 25) which is in line with the results of included studies(21, 23, 29, 49, 90, 91, 95). The subgroup analysis showed that dementia was the most prevalent comorbidity followed by hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus. However, the finding of this study was contrary to other studies conducted on the prevalence of comorbidities among patients with COVID-19 where hypertension was the most prevalent comorbidity among patients with COVID-19(21, 25, 45, 91). This discrepancy might be explained by the inclusion of only one study in this Meta-Analysis that reported a high prevalence of dementia compared to other comorbidities.

Many complications were mentioned in the literature in patients with COVID-19 who underwent surgical procedures(21, 29, 38, 39, 52, 89–91, 96). The Meta-Analysis revealed that thromboembolic disease, pulmonary complications, infection, and deep wound infection were the commonest perioperative complications. All these complications were more likely associated with low immunity and prolonged immobility while patients were on a mechanical ventilator.

The Meta-Analysis showed that the pooled mean duration of hospitalization was 10.55 (95% confidence interval (CI): 8.08 to 13.03) which is comparable with the findings of the included studies(21, 29, 38, 39, 52, 89–91, 96).

5.1. Quality of evidence

The methodological quality of included studies was moderate to high quality as depicted with Joanna Briggs Institute assessment tool for meta-analysis of observational studies. However, substantial heterogeneity associated with dissimilarities of included studies in sample size, design, and location could affect the allover quality of evidence.

5.2. Limitation of the study

The Meta-Analysis included studies with moderate to high methodological quality. However, some of the included studies were low powered and the majority of studies included in this review didn’t report data on comorbidity and risk factors to investigate the independent predictors. Besides, there were a limited number of studies in some countries and it would be difficult to provide conclusive evidence with results pooled from fewer studies.

5.3. Implication for practice

Body of evidence revealed that perioperative mortality; morbidity and complications were very high among patients with COVID-19. This is a huge challenge especially in resource-limited settings where there are a limited number of ICU beds, mechanical ventilator, integrated patient monitor, skilled professionals combined with malnutrition, and communicable disease. Therefore, a mitigating strategy is required by different stakeholders to combat the catastrophic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through creating awareness about preventive measures, implementing protocols for supportive management, management of comorbidities, and prevention of complications.

5.4. The implication for further research

The Meta-Analysis revealed that perioperative mortality, complication, rate of ICU admission among surgical COVD-19 patients was very high. However, the included studies were too heterogeneous, low powered, and cross-sectional studies also don’t show a temporal relationship between mortality and its determinants. Therefore, further observational and randomized controlled trials are required.

6. Conclusion

The Meta-Analysis revealed that the prevalence of mortality, perioperative complication, and rate of intensive care unit admission was very high. The Meta-analysis showed that there is one death for every five COVID-19 patients undergoing surgical procedures which entail mitigating strategies to decrease perioperative mortality, infection transmission to health care workers, and non-COVID-19 patients; provide less risky anesthetic techniques and alternative management other than surgical procedures. Besides, there have to be guidelines to operate or not to operate high patients with COVID-19 for elective and urgent surgeries.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance and approval were obtained from the ethical review board of the College of Health Science and Medicine.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Availability of data and materials

Data and material can be available where appropriate.

Competing interests

The authors declare that there are no competing interests

Funding

No funding was obtained from any organization

Authors' contributions

SA and BM conceived the idea design of the project. SA, BM, and BB involved in searching strategy, data extraction, quality assessment, analysis and manuscript preparation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Dilla University for technical support and encouragement to carry out the project.

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