Summary Introduction Peri‐operative peripheral nerve injuries are rare, and estimating their incidence and identifying risk factors is difficult. Previous data attempting to determine the incidence come from single‐centre studies or small database reviews, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. Methods We used the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset, an established state‐wide dataset of public and private hospital admissions, to determine the incidence and risk factors for developing peri‐operative peripheral nerve injuries in the state of Victoria, Australia, from 2015 to 2024. Results A total of 5,451,848 non‐maternity surgical admissions were analysed, with 796 nerve injuries as a complication of care. This represents a rate of 14.6 nerve injuries per 100,000 (0.014%) surgical admissions, with a subset of 407 specific nerve injuries of interest (the most common nerve injuries previously identified by American Society of Anesthesiologists closed claims analyses) at a rate of 7.5 per 100,000 (0.007%) surgical admissions. The risk of specific peri‐operative nerve injuries increased significantly in patients receiving combined regional anaesthesia with general anaesthesia or sedation (odds ratio 2.68, 95%CI 2.11–3.39); patients living with obesity (odds ratio 2.04, 95%CI 1.54–2.69) and those with increased Charlson comorbidity index (odds ratio 2.61, 95%CI 1.87–3.65 for Charlson comorbidity index of 2). Procedures on the cardiovascular system (odds ratio 3.75, 95%CI 2.85–4.92), musculoskeletal system (odds ratio 3.30, 95%CI 2.59–4.20) and nervous system (odds ratio 3.17, 95%CI 2.43–4.14) had the highest risk of specified injuries. Discussion The risk of peri‐operative peripheral nerve injuries is lower than historical estimates and appears to be decreasing with time. The use of administrative databases allows for inclusion of denominator data to allow for a more accurate estimate of risk in rare events, such as peri‐operative peripheral nerve injuries.
Luo et al. (Mon,) studied this question.