Mortality after gynaecologic operations in Finland, 1986-1991.
OBJECTIVE
To study the current in-hospital, 30-day and 42-day mortality after conventional gynaecologic procedures in Finland, with special reference to hysterectomy.


METHODS
Nationwide six-year annual study.


METHODS
Data were from the Finnish Population Register Centre, the Finnish Cause-of-Death and Hospital Discharge Register, and the Register for Legal Abortions and Sterilisations.


METHODS
Gynaecologic operations (n = 299,257) performed between January 1986 and December 1991.


METHODS
The overall and age-adjusted mortality rates during the initial hospitalisation, as well as 30 and 42 days after the operations. Age-adjusted probability of dying within 42 days after hysterectomy compared with the overall probability of age-matched Finnish female control population.


RESULTS
Overall mortality rates per 10,000 hysterectomies increased gradually from 6.0 during initial hospitalisation to 9.1 and 12.9 when calculated 30 and 42 days post-operatively. The overall 42-day mortality rates of radical hysterectomy, curettage and laparoscopy (other than sterilisation) exceeded the post-hysterectomy mortality rate, while the rates after caesarean section, legal abortion and laparoscopic sterilisation did not. No deaths occurred after laparoscopic sterilisation (n = 40,346). The patients who died after radical hysterectomy, curettage and for other laparoscopy than sterilisation were old, and the great majority of them died of cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
The mortality rates after gynaecologic procedures in Finland are currently very low and have clearly decreased in recent decades. Patients may be reassured that conventional gynaecologic operations are safe.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Central Hospital of Turku, Finland.
H S
HS
Virtanen
J I
JI
Mäkinen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000401:mortality*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors