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BACKGROUND:

Older patients undergoing emergency general surgery (EGS) experience high rates of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Studies focused primarily on elective surgery indicate that frailty is an important predictor of adverse outcomes in older surgical patients. The population-level effect of frailty on EGS is poorly described. Therefore, our objective was to measure the association of preoperative frailty with outcomes in a population of older patients undergoing EGS.

METHODS:

We created a population-based cohort study using linked administrative data in Ontario, Canada, that included community-dwelling individuals aged> 65 years having EGS. Our main exposure was preoperative frailty, as defined by the Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups frailty–defining diagnoses indicator. The Adjusted Clinical Groups frailty–defining diagnoses indicator is a binary variable that uses 12 clusters of frailty …