Outcomes of surgery among the Medicare aged: mortality after surgery.

This study examines post-surgical mortality, up to 1 year after surgery, for eight common operations among aged Medicare enrollees. The operations with the highest mortality in the 1.5 months after surgery were femur fracture reduction, hip arthroplasty (other, i.e., not total replacement), and coronary artery bypass. Mortality was still above average for femur fracture reduction, hip arthroplasty (other), and transurethral prostatectomy 1 year after surgery. The highest mortality rates following surgery were for people 85 years of age or over. This raises the following question: Should certain elective surgery be performed at younger ages if it appears that surgery may eventually be needed?