Featured Articles: Infographic

Nathan, Naveen MD

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Attribution: The Infographic is composed by Naveen Nathan MD.

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Anesthesia & Analgesia | DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000006519 Metrics

It is well recognized that surgical patients in low and middle income countries may suffer worse outcomes compared to those in well resourced, high income countries. In this issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, Rosero and colleagues compare and contrast mortality, complication rate and failure to rescue from complications between high and low income settings. To maintain consistency, only patients presenting for appendectomy were chosen for analysis as this is the most commonly performed emergency procedure. Approximately sixty thousand cases from the United States, and a corresponding number of surgeries from Colombia were analyzed. The authors found that patients in Colombia had lower complication rates, possibly reflecting that these patients were generally younger and healthier than those from the American cohort. However, Colombian patients suffered a higher failure to rescue from complications and higher mortality as well which corroborates the relative lack of access to optimal care in low income countries. The reader is strongly encouraged to review the cited article for an in-depth understanding of the concepts summarized in this infographic.

1. Rosero, et al. Failure to rescue and mortality differences after appendectomy in a low-middle-income country and the United States. Anesth Analg. 2023;136:1030–1038. Copyright © 2023 International Anesthesia Research Society