Do in-hospital postoperative complications affect quality of life up to 12 months after major abdominal surgery?
Postoperative complications following major abdominal surgery significantly and persistently impair patient quality of life up to 12 months, with worse outcomes linked to higher complication severity.
Postoperative complications have a significant and sustained effect on patients' quality of life after surgery; this effect worsens as the severity of the complications increases.
Downey et al. (Mon,) studied this question.