Surgery in patients aged 80 years and over. A retrospective comparative study from 1981 and 1987.

This is a retrospective study from a general surgical unit to evaluate the profile of surgery in patients aged greater than or equal to 80 years in the years 1981 and 1987. The proportion of admissions of such patients rose from 9.6% in 1981 to 15.7% in 1987. There was a twofold increase in emergency admissions and an increase of 30-40% in early (within 24 hours) interventions among the emergency cases of this age group. The postoperative mortality was concentrated to the emergency cases. In more than half of the admittances as well as of the postoperative fatalities the main diagnosis was a benign disease. The surgical procedure was considered to be curative or beneficial in 72% of the patients. To improve the efficiency of surgical therapy in this age group higher priority should be given to elective operations in order to avoid emergency interventions.