The association between participation in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) and postoperative outcomes: A comprehensive analysis of 7,474,298 patients.

INTRODUCTION

Prior publications about the association between participation in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and improved postoperative outcomes have reported mixed results. We aimed to perform a comprehensive analysis of preoperative characteristics and unadjusted and risk-adjusted postoperative complication rates over time in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program dataset.

METHODS

We used the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, 2005 to 2018, to analyze preoperative patient characteristics and unadjusted and risk-adjusted rates of adverse postoperative outcomes by year. Expected events were calculated using multiple logistic regression, with each complication as the dependent variable and the 28 non-laboratory preoperative American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program variables as the independent variables. Annual observed-to-expected ratios for each outcome were used to risk-adjust outcomes over time.

RESULTS

The analytic cohort included 7,474,298 operations across 9 surgical specialties. Both the preoperative patient risk and the unadjusted rate of postoperative complications decreased over time. While the observed-to-expected ratio for mortality remained around 1, the observed-to-expected ratios for the other outcomes decreased over time from 2005 to 2018, except for the following cardiac complications: overall morbidity 1.11 (95% confidence interval: 1.10-1.13) to 0.97 (0.96-0.98); pulmonary 1.18 (1.15-1.21) to 0.91 (0.89-0.92); infection 1.19 (1.16-1.21) to 1.01 (1.00-1.01); urinary tract infection 1.29 (1.23-1.34) to 0.87 (0.86-0.89); venous thromboembolism 1.10 (1.03-1.16) to 0.92 (0.90-0.94) ; cardiac 0.76 (0.70-0.81) to 1.04 (1.01-1.07); renal 1.14 (1.08-1.21) to 0.96 (0.93-0.99); stroke 1.12 (1.00-1.25) to 0.98 (0.94-1.03); and bleeding 1.35 (1.33-1.36) to 0.80 (0.79-0.81).

CONCLUSION

Hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program have experienced a decrease in risk-adjusted postoperative surgical complications over time in all areas except for mortality and cardiac complications.