Selection of studies
A total of 715 articles were identified from different databases and 45 articles were selected for evaluation after the successive screening. Twenty-three articles with 2947 participants were included and the rest were excluded with reasons [34, 37-40, 58, 61-76] (Fig 1).
Description of included studies
Twenty-three Articles with 2947 participants were included in the review while twenty-one 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) [23, 26, 77-96]. 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[52]
|
Jan 1 to March 31, 2020
|
UK
|
1128
|
Any
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
24[21,26]
|
Cai et al[55]
|
February, 2020
|
China
|
7
|
Any
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
43[10,82]
|
Casanova et al[28]
|
March 11 to May 15, 2020
|
Portugal
|
148
|
Cardiac
|
Emergency
|
Low risk
|
1[0,5]
|
Cheung et al[97]
|
March 1 to May 22, 2020
|
USA
|
10
|
Orthopedics
|
Emergency
|
Low risk
|
10[0,45]
|
Doglietto et al[98]
|
Feb 1, April 23
|
Italy
|
41
|
Any
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
20[9,35]
|
Dursun et al[30]
|
March 10 to May 20, 2020
|
Turkey
|
200
|
Gynecology
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
12[8,17]
|
Egol et al[36]
|
Feb 1 to April 15, 2020
|
USA
|
253
|
Orthopedics
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
7[4.11]
|
Kayani et al[45]
|
Feb 1 to April, 2020
|
UK
|
82
|
Orthopedics
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
30[21,42]
|
LeBrun et al[56]
|
March 20 to April 24, 2020
|
USA
|
9
|
Orthopedics
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
78[40,97]
|
Lei et al[99]
|
Jan 1 to Feb 5, 2020
|
China
|
34
|
Any
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
21[9,38]
|
Li et al[100]
|
Jan 1 to Feb 5, 2020
|
China
|
54
|
Any
|
Emergency
|
Low risk
|
15[7,27]
|
Macey et al[67]
|
Dec to March 2020
|
UK
|
76
|
Orthopedics
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
28[18,39]
|
Martino et al[101]
|
Feb 17 to March 31, 2020
|
Spain
|
15
|
Any
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
20[4,48]
|
Mi et al[102]
|
Jan 1 to Feb 27,2020
|
China
|
3
|
Orthopedics
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
20[4,48]
|
Pai et al[32]
|
March 24 to May 31, 2020
|
India
|
184
|
Any
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
20[14,26]
|
Peng et al[57]
|
January 2020
|
China
|
11
|
Thoracic
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
27[6,61]
|
Rajasekaran et al[27]
|
March 12 to May 12, 2020
|
UK
|
56
|
Orthopedics
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
4[0,12]
|
Santiago et al[103]
|
March to May, 2020
|
Spain
|
126
|
Gynecology
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
12[7,19]
|
Seeliger et al[27]
|
March 1 to May 23, 2020
|
France
|
13
|
Any
|
Emergency
|
Low risk
|
92[64,100]
|
Sobti et al[53]
|
March 1 to May 31, 2020
|
UK
|
206
|
Orthopedics
|
Any
|
Low risk
|
4[2,8]
|
Stevenson et al[104]
|
March 4 to May 22, 2020
|
UK
|
100
|
Orthopedics
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
7[3,14]
|
Stoneham et al[59]
|
March 1 to June 1,2020
|
UK
|
48
|
Orthopedics
|
Elective
|
Low risk
|
-
|
Zhang et al[54]
|
Jan 1 to March 20, 2020
|
China
|
133
|
Obstetrics
|
Both
|
Low risk
|
-
|
Meta-analysis
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).