Elderly patients over 70 years benefit from enhanced recovery programme after colorectal surgery as much as younger patients.

Abstract

Enhanced recovery programme (ERP) reduces length of hospital stay (LOS) and postoperative complications after colorectal surgery. ERP is feasible and effective in elderly patients. We tested the hypothesis of non-inferiority for elderly patients as compared to younger patients with regard to LOS. The first 302 consecutive patients scheduled for colorectal surgery and prospectively introduced in our audit database were retrospectively analysed. LOS (primary endpoint), postoperative complications, and adherence to the ERP of elderly (≥70 years, n=100) were compared with those of younger patients (n=202). The same ERP was used in all patients. Non-inferiority hypothesis for LOS was tested using the confidence interval method. Secondary endpoints were compared using the Mann-Whitney U and the Chi2 tests. Except for age patients' demographic data were not different in both groups: 53.8 (17-69) vs. 76.8 (70-90) years. The actual LOS were 3.5 [2-7] and 4.0 [3-7] days in the young and elderly group, respectively. The difference in median LOS between the two groups was 0 (95% CI, -0.97-0.97), demonstrating non-inferiority. Although with more risk factors (anaemia, COPD, cardiac disease, and cancer, P<0.05), elderly patients experienced neither more postoperative medical (17.0 vs. 16.3%) nor surgical (19.0 vs. 22.3%) complications than young patients. The adherence to protocol was slightly less in elderly (16 [15-18] vs. 17 [16-18], P=0.05). Not only ERP is feasible in seniors, but elderly patients benefit from this perioperative care as much as younger patients. NCT03620851.