Healthy Days at Home after Emergency General Surgery: Shifting Toward Long-Term Patient-Centered Outcomes…

Cohort studyJournal of the American College of Surgeons· Aug 2026

Healthy Days at Home after Emergency General Surgery: Shifting Toward Long-Term Patient-Centered Outcomes for Older Adults.

Manuel Castillo-Angeles, Lingwei Xiang, Cheryl K Zogg … Joaquim M Havens

Trauma & Acute Care SurgeryCohort studyPrognosisQ1IF 1.9

High-risk emergency general surgery is associated with fewer healthy days at home than low-risk surgery.

Healthy Days at Home after Emergency General Surgery: Shifting Toward Long-Term Patient-Centered Outcomes for Older Adults.

Manuel Castillo-Angeles … Joaquim M Havens

Journal of the American College of Surgeons · Aug 2026 · Q1 in Surgery

Background

Emergency general surgery (emergency general surgery) in older adults is commonly evaluated with short-term outcomes that may not reflect functional recovery.

Methods

We performed a retrospective cohort study using 2017 100% Medicare fee-for-service claims with a 1-year look-back and follow-up.

n = 29,828 older adults

Results

high-risk surgery patients spent about a month less time healthy at home

307.88days

High-risk EGS

345.3days

Low-risk EGS

More results

Among 29,828 older adults, 32.95% underwent a high-risk procedure.

One-year mortality was higher after high-risk procedures (18.10% vs 5.21%, p < 0.001).

More results

Fewer healthy days at home were independently associated with age (Coef. -2.28, 95% CI -2.43 to -2.14), Black race (Coef. -8.30, 95% CI -12.89 to -3.71), dementia (Coef. -49.74, 95% CI -53.97 to -45.50), 2 or more comorbidities (Coef. -16.34, 95% CI -20.81 to -11.87), and frailty.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

High-risk emergency general surgery was associated with approximately 1-month fewer healthy days at home in older adults.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Dementia and frailty were major predictors of reduced healthy days at home and should inform patient-centered perioperative counseling.

Healthy Days at Home after Emergency General Surgery: Shifting Toward Long-Term Patient-Centered Outcomes for Older Adults.

Healthy Days at Home after Emergency General Surgery: Shifting Toward Long-Term Patient-Centered Outcomes for Older Adults.

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