title: Anesthesia, outcomes, and public health: changing health care while "asleep".
abstract: More than 50 million surgical procedures are performed annually in the United States, with perioperative complications and related long-term adverse outcomes profoundly affecting the nation's health. A growing number of studies recognize that type of anesthesia, a main determinant of perioperative care, is associated with perioperative morbidity and mortality. Emerging data suggest, for example, that anesthesia may be a determinant of cancer recurrence after surgery. Further research is needed to elucidate the impact of anesthesia-related factors on short- and long-term health outcomes. Progress in this area of medicine and its public-health consequences will depend largely on the interest of the public, researchers, and health care policy makers.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and †Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital for Special Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Jashvant
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poeran
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazumdar
authors.forename: Stavros G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Memtsoudis
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006801:Humans; D019990:Perioperative Care; D011634:Public Health