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Nursing home patients at greater risk of surgery complications

11/08/11

A new study published in the Annals of Surgery showed residents of nursing homes may be at a greater risk of suffering complications from surgery than other individuals their age.

Post-surgery death rates were considerably higher among patients who lived at retirement homes than among people the same age who lived by themselves, the study found.

The study showed that 12 out of 100 patients who lived in nursing homes and had their appendix removed died within one month of the surgery, in comparison to just two out of 100 elderly people who lived on their own.

The study examined more than 70,000 nursing homes and 1 million non-institutionalized Medicare patients who were 65 and older.

"We may be too aggressive with surgery in nursing home residents," said lead researcher Dr. Emily Finlayson, who specializes in gastrointestinal surgery at the University of California in San Francisco. "They are frail and often have advanced medical problems, which put them at high risk of dying after surgery."

Life insurance for senior citizens is of utmost importance, as this study suggests. Preparing for the future is beneficial to not just the patient, but also the family of the patient.

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