Prevalence of relaparotomy and associated factors among patients undergone laparotomy in selected public hospitals of East Wollega under Oromia region of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study

Relaparotomy refers to reoperations performed within 60 days of an initial laparotomy for complications like anastomotic leak and intra-abdominal abscess collection. The risks of morbidity and mortality are high after relaparotomy. The global prevalence of relaparotomy accounts for 1.5–27% of patients with abdominal surgery. To assess the prevalence of relaparotomy and associated factors with relaparotomy among patients who underwent laparotomy from January 1, 2020, to December 30, 2022, in public hospitals in East Wollega zone, Ethiopia. A retrospective institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in public hospitals in East Wollega Zones from January 1, 2020, to December 30, 2022. A total of 834 charts were selected using a simple random sampling technique. A pretested and structured checklist was used to collect data. Data was entered using Epi Data version 4.6, then exported to and analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted. A statistically significant association was indicated at a 95% Confidence Interval with a p-value of less than 0.05. The prevalence of relaparotomy was 14.6% with a 95% CI (12.4–17.2). The mean age was 39.69 SD ± 14.45 years. Among the relaparotomy patients, 70.9% were males. In this study, age above 60 years (AOR = 7.6, 95% CI = 1.85–31.33), preoperative duration of illness greater than 120 h (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.70–6.58), preoperative pulse rate more than 120 beats per minute (AOR = 6.5, 95% CI = 3.15–13.45), patients with preoperative peritonitis (AOR = 4.8, 95% CI = 2.60–8.95), a patient with preoperative anastomotic leak (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.70–6.58), and a patient with preoperative intraabdominal abscess (AOR = 4., 95% CI = 2.106–7.65) were associated with relaparotomy. In this study, relaparotomy occurred in nearly one out of seven patients who had undergone laparotomy. Factors such as age above 60 years, duration of illness exceeding 120 h, pre-operative pulse rate greater than 120 beats per minute, peritonitis, intra-abdominal abscess, and anastomosis leak were found to be associated with relaparotomy. Therefore, all possible medical measures should be taken during the primary laparotomy to reduce the occurrence of relaparotomy.