Science / Medicine : Anesthesia Study

Anesthesia is safer than the public thinks despite the bad press the speciality has received from publicized malpractice cases, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. It examined mortality rates among 100,000 patients who underwent surgery involving anesthesia at a 1,000-bed hospital in Winnipeg, Canada, between 1975 and 1984.

Researchers analyzed deaths occurring within seven days of a particular operation among some 100,000 patients administered anesthetics while undergoing surgery at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. They found that the seven-day mortality rate was 71.4 per 10,000 cases and that the mortality rate increased with the age of the patients, with patients in their 70s having a mortality rate of 131.2 per 10,000 and those over 80 with 221.1.

“Anesthesia doesn’t add to the risk over and above that of the surgery itself and the extent of the medical problem the patient already has,” said Marsha Cohen, a co-author of the study.