Abstract
Objectives—Although many trials have evaluated abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair, the
impact of these procedures on the functional status of frail elderly patients is not well described.
The effects of elective open AAA repair (OAR) and endovascular AAA repair (EVAR) and
comorbidities were evaluated for their impact on functional trajectories after discharge.
Methods—Medicare inpatient claims were linked with nursing home assessment data to identify
elective admissions for OAR and EVAR. A functional score (0–28; higher scores indicating
greater impairment) was calculated before and after interventions. Logistic regression was used to
develop a propensity score for receiving EVAR because residents were not randomized.
Hierarchical linear modeling determined the effect of surgery on residents’ function, controlling
for pre-hospital function, hospital length of stay (LOS), stroke, and the propensity score.
Results—Fifty-two residents underwent OAR and 161 residents underwent EVAR. Most
(65.3%) were men and 62.0% were from 76 to 85 years old. Mean LOS was 8.3 days for OAR and
5.1 days for EVAR. Almost half (47.4%) of the residents had good pre-hospital function (activities
of daily living [ADL] score 0–10), and 48.4% were moderately impaired (ADL score 11–20).
Higher baseline ADL score, increased LOS, and stroke were associated with worse trajectories.
Procedure type was not significantly related to post-surgery function or the subsequent rate of
improvement.
Conclusions—OAR and EVAR were associated with similar initial declines and comparable
post-operative trajectories, suggesting that less invasive EVAR was not associated with improved
functional preservation compared with OAR. LOS was found to be higher than expected in the
frail elderly after EVAR; longer stays were associated with poorer functional trajectories. Higher
baseline ADL scores were significantly associated with inferior functional status after both
procedures. Evaluation of preoperative function may assist physicians in predicting outcomes in
this high risk population.