Association of Otolaryngology Resident Duty Hour Restrictions With Procedure-Specific Outcomes in Head and Neck Endocrine Surgery.

Importance: Graduate medical education has undergone a transformation from traditional long work hours to a restricted plan to allow adequate rest for residents. The initial goal of this restriction is to improve patient outcomes. Objective: To determine whether duty hour restrictions had any impact on surgery-specific outcomes by analyzing complications following thyroid and parathyroid procedures performed before and after duty hour reform. Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS).The NIS was queried for procedure codes associated with thyroid and parathyroid procedures for the years 2000 to 2002 and 2006 to 2008. Hospitals were divided based on teaching status into 3 groups: nonteaching hospitals (NTHs), teaching hospitals without otolaryngology programs (THs), and teaching hospitals with otolaryngology programs (THs-OTO). Main Outcomes and Measures: Procedure-specific complication rates, length of stay, and mortality rates were collected. SAS statistical software (version 9.4) was used for analysis with adjustment using Charlson comorbidity index. Results: Total numbers of head and neck endocrine procedures were 34 685 and 39 770 (a 14.7% increase), for 2000 to 2002 and 2006 to 2008, respectively. THs-OTO contributed a greater share of procedures in 2006 to 2008 (from 18% to 25%). With the earlier period serving as the reference, length of stay remained constant (2.1 days); however, total hospital charges increased (from $12 978 to $23 708; P < .001). Rates of postoperative hematoma (odds ratio [OR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.06-1.38), hypoparathyroidism (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.06-1.52), and unintentional vessel lacerations (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.83) increased overall with NTHs (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.04-1.52), THs (OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.15-2.37), and THs-OTO (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.09-3.61) accounting for these differences, respectively. Overall mortality decreased (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.47-0.94) following a decrease in the TH-OTO mortality rate (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.12-0.93). Conclusions and Relevance: While recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, hematoma formation, and hypoparathyroidism did not change, length of stay and mortality improved within THs-OTO following head and neck endocrine procedures after implementation of duty hour regulations. This finding refutes the concern that duty hour restrictions result in poorer overall outcomes. Less time available to develop technical competence may play a factor in some outcomes in lieu of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury increasing within THs and accidental injury to vessels, organs, or nerves and hypocalcemia increasing within THs-OTO. Furthermore, head and neck endocrine cases increased at THs with otolaryngology programs.

Outcomes following thyroid and parathyroid surgery in pregnant women.

OBJECTIVES: To perform the first population-based measurement of clinical and economic outcomes after thyroid and parathyroid surgery in pregnant women and identify the characteristics of this population and the predictors of outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Health Care Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS), a 20% sample of nonfederal US hospitals. PATIENTS: All pregnant women, compared with age-matched nonpregnant women, who underwent thyroid and parathyroid procedures from 1999 to 2005. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fetal, maternal, and surgical complications, in-hospital mortality, median length of stay, and hospital costs. RESULTS: A total of 201 pregnant women underwent thyroid (n = 165) and parathyroid (n = 36) procedures and were examined together. The mean age was 29 years, 60% were white, 25% were emergent or urgent admissions, and 46% had thyroid cancer. Compared with nonpregnant women (n = 31 155), pregnant patients had a higher rate of endocrine (15.9 vs 8.1%; P < .001) and general complications (11.4 vs 3.6%; P < .001), longer unadjusted lengths of stay (2 days vs 1 day; P < .001), and higher unadjusted hospital costs ($6873 vs $5963; P = .007). The fetal and maternal complication rates were 5.5% and 4.5%, respectively. On multivariate regression analysis, pregnancy was an independent predictor of higher combined surgical complications (odds ratio, 2; P < .001), longer adjusted length of stay (0.3 days longer; P < .001), and higher adjusted hospital costs ($300; P < .001). Other independent predictors of outcome were surgeon volume, patient race or ethnicity, and insurance status. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant women have worse clinical and economic outcomes following thyroid and parathyroid surgery than nonpregnant women, with disparities in outcomes based on race, insurance, and access to high-volume surgeons.

Mortality in sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism: nationwide cohort study of multiple parathyroid gland disease.

BACKGROUND: The risk of dying from primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) is controversial and has been explored mainly in single parathyroid gland disease. The present study investigates mortality in pHPT due to multiple parathyroid gland disease. METHODS: We used the nationwide Swedish In-patient Register and Cause-of-Death Registry to compare the mortality in 3485 Swedish patients subjected to parathyroidectomy during 1964 to 1999 with that of the Swedish population (standardized for age, gender, and calendar year). The patient cohort includes 36,596 person years. RESULTS: Increased risk of death beyond the first postoperative year (standardized mortality ratio, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.37-1.52) was found in both sexes and for all age intervals below 80 years. The increased risk persisted more than 15 years postoperatively and related to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, urogenital diseases, and malignant disorders. The increased risk of dying in cardiovascular diseases normalized during 1990 to 1999. CONCLUSIONS: pHPT caused by multiple parathyroid gland enlargement is associated with an excessive mortality similar to pHPT of single parathyroid adenoma. The findings substantiate that modern modes of surgical treatment for pHPT normalize the risk of dying from cardiovascular complications and that the hyperpararthyroid state per se is the possible cause of the premature death.