The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine hospital services globally. The hospital services include surgeries for benign diseases, cancer surgery and obstetric surgery. A study conducted by CovidSurg Collaborative estimated that 28,404,603 operations would be cancelled or postponed during the peak 12 weeks of disruption due to COVID-19. Globally, 81.7% of benign surgery, 37.7% of cancer surgery and 25.4% of elective Caesarean sections would be cancelled or postponed. If countries increase their normal surgical volume by 20% post-pandemic, it would take a median 45 weeks to clear the backlog of operations resulting from COVID-19 disruption. This study aims to estimate total number of elective operations postponed during COVID-19 in geriatric population.
An audit study will be conducted among geriatric patients that are admitted for elective
surgeries in University Malaya Medical center (UMMC). Patients who fulfil inclusion/
exclusion criteria will be recruited with consent and will have a face-to-face interview in
the surgical ward prior to their elective surgeries.
Data collection in the form of a questionnaire designed in English and filled up by the
research interviewer is created to document patient demography, surgical details and level of
depression/ anxiety prior to surgery.
The primary objective of this study is to find incidence of elective surgeries has postponed
during COVID-19 pandemic in geriatric population. This overarching aim raises two secondary
objectives of the research:
1. To find the incidents of cancer surgeries postponed during COVID-19 pandemic in
geriatric population.
2. To find the physical and psychological impact of postponed elective surgery in geriatric
population during COVID-19 pandemic.
Random convenience sampling will be conducted. Data will be collected using REDCap (Research
Electronic Data Capture) system and analyzed using SPSS software. Results will be presented
as mean ± standard deviation, median or frequency (percentages) as appropriate. Mann-Whitney
U test will be used for non-normally distributed data while t test will be used for normally
distributed data. The qualitative data analysis will be performed using chi-square test or
Fisher's exact test if insufficient numbers are present. A p value < 0.05 will be considered
statistically significant.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Geriatric patients (aged 65 and above)
- All elective surgeries under general anesthesia, regional anesthesia and ALA
Exclusion Criteria:
- Refuse to participate in the study
- Patients with cognitive disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease
Department of Anesthesiology & Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Pui San Loh, FANZCA, Principal Investigator
Department of Anesthesiology & Intensive Care, University of Malaya