Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;47(6):1373-1378.
doi: 10.1007/s00268-023-06997-4. Epub 2023 Mar 29.

Outcomes of Thyroidectomy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A NSQIP Analysis

Gustavo Romero-Velez  1 , Salem I Noureldine  2 , Talia A Burneikis  2 , Panagiotis Bletsis  2 , Megan Parmer  2 , Allan Siperstein  2
Affiliations

Outcomes of Thyroidectomy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A NSQIP Analysis

Gustavo Romero-Velez et al. World J Surg. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has had a profound impact on our healthcare system. Surgery in particular faced significant challenges related to allocation of resources and equitable patient selection, resulting in a delay in non-emergent procedures. We sought to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient outcomes after thyroidectomy.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database that included all thyroidectomies from 2018 to 2020. The primary outcome evaluated was surgical outcomes during 2020, the first year of the pandemic, compared to years preceding the pandemic. Factors associated with adverse postoperative outcomes during the study period were included in a multivariate analysis.

Results: The volume of thyroidectomy procedures in 2020 decreased 16.4% when compared to the preceding years. During 2020, there was a significant increase in mortality (0.14% vs. 0.07%, p = 0.03), unplanned intubation (0.45% vs. 0.27%, p < 0.01) and cardiac arrest (0.11% vs. 0.03%, p < 0.01), while other complications remained stable. Undergoing surgery in 2020 remained as a risk factor for mortality in a multivariate analysis (OR 2.4 95% CI 1.3-4.4).

Conclusion: The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on outcomes after thyroidectomy resulting in increased mortality. As the world recovers, there will likely be an increase number of patients seeking care who were unable to obtain it during the pandemic. Close attention should be placed on the outcomes which were altered during the pandemic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no disclosures or conflict of interest. There was no funding for this project. The ACS-NSQIP and the hospitals participating in the ACS-NSQIP are the source of the data used herein; they have not verified and are not responsible for the statistical validity of the data analysis or the conclusions derived by the authors.

References

    1. Myers LC, Liu VX. The COVID-19 pandemic strikes again and again and again. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(3):e221760. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.1760. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhang D, et al. Thyroid surgery during coronavirus-19 pandemic phases I, II and III: lessons learned in China, South Korea, Iran and Italy. J Endocrinol Invest. 2021;44(5):1065–1073. doi: 10.1007/s40618-020-01407-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meredith JW, High KP, Freischlag JA. Preserving elective surgeries in the COVID-19 pandemic and the future. JAMA. 2020;324(17):1725. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.19594. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dang A, Thakker R, Li S, Hommel E, Mehta HB, Goodwin JS. Hospitalizations and mortality from non–SARS-CoV-2 causes among medicare beneficiaries at US hospitals during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(3):e221754. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.1754. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blumenthal D, Fowler EJ, Abrams M, Collins SR. Covid-19—implications for the health care system. N Engl J Med. 2020 doi: 10.1056/NEJMsb2021088. - DOI - PubMed