title: Utility of surgery for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.
abstract: Our aim was to assess the utility of surgery for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA) using the number of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in a retrospective study with cross-sectional quality-of-life (QoL) evaluation. During a 7-year period up to 2002, 242 of 269 (90%) patients with RAAA underwent surgery. Survivors were sent the EQ-5D self-administered questionnaire to assess their long-term outcome. EQ-5D single index values were calculated for each survivor and combined with age- and sex-adjusted Finnish life tables to obtain QALY estimates. Total hospital mortality (90-day) and operative mortality (30-day) were 140 of 269 (52.0%) and 106 of 242 (43.8%), respectively. Of the 129 surviving patients, 111 were available for QoL evaluation. The response rate was 85%. The mean (range) number of QALYs after RAAA was 4.1 (0-30.9) for all and 8.5 (0.2-30.9) for hospital survivors. Young age and low Glasgow Aneurysm Score were associated with a high number of QALYs irrespective of the statistical method used for analysis. Successful repair of RAAA was able to lend considerable benefit as measured by QALYs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. sani.laukontaus@hus.fi
authors.forename: Sani Joanna
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Laukontaus
authors.forename: Ville
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pettilä
authors.forename: Ilkka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kantonen
authors.forename: Jarmo A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Salo
authors.forename: Arto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohinmaa
authors.forename: Mauri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lepäntalo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires