Purpose: The volume-outcome relationship has not been well-defined in pediatric surgery. Our aim was to determine the association between hospital-volume and outcomes for common procedures in children.
Methods: Retrospective population-based cohort study of patients <18 years of age hospitalized between 1989 and 2009 for common surgical procedures in Washington State. The association between annual hospital case volume and post-operative outcomes (readmission and reoperation within 30-days, post-operative complications) was assessed using multivariate logistic regression.
Results: The three most common procedures over the study period were appendectomy (n = 36,525), skin and soft tissue debridement (n = 9,813), and pyloromyotomy (n = 3,323). A greater proportion of patients with comorbidities were treated at higher-volume hospitals. After adjustment, outcomes did not differ significantly across hospital-volume quartiles except that debridement patients had lower odds of readmission (OR = 0.63, 95 % CI 0.46-0.88) and re-operation (OR = 0.53, 95 % CI 0.35-0.81) at medium-high-volume compared with high-volume centers.
Conclusions: This work suggests that risks of readmission and post-operative complications for common procedures may be similar across hospital-volume categories, but appropriate risk-stratification is essential. In order to optimize safety, we must identify the resources required for low-, medium-, and high-risk surgical patients, and implement these standards into practice.