DISCUSSION
This analysis demonstrates that procedure type was not significantly related to post-surgery
impairment scores or the subsequent rate of improvement in our nursing home sample. As
endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair increases in frequency in the aged
population, these data suggest that an endovascular approach to AAA may be more
physically demanding on patients than previously believed in the nursing home population.
ADL scores improved following both EVAR and OAR, however, our trajectories indicate
that the less invasive endovascular approach was not associated with improved functional
preservation when compared with OAR in the nursing home population.
In our study, there were several factors in the patient population that appeared to have a
significant impact on patient’s functional status following aneurysm repair. The three most
significant in our study were prior stroke or TIA, their baseline ADL scores, and hospital
LOS. Out of those previously mentioned, the most important single factor is having had a
prior stroke or TIA. If the patient had a prior stroke/TIA, then their post-operative scores
appeared to be considerably higher, indicating decreased level of functioning independently.
Similarly, baseline ADL scores were very important in impacting the functional scores.
Worse “baseline” pre-hospital MDS ADL scores were associated with significantly worse
post-procedure scores after either EVAR or OAR. Finally, hospital LOS was higher than
expected in the elderly population following EVAR. The LOS was associated with worse
post-procedure ADL scores as well.
Several authors have looked at functional outcomes after AAA repair. Williamson et al.19
evaluated 154 elective, non-emergent open AAA repair in an elderly population with a mean
age of 69 years. They described a significant decline in patients following OAR repair, with
only 64% of patients reporting a full recovery after a mean of 3.9 months. Additionally, only
67% of patients who were ambulatory pre-hospital remained ambulatory following OAR.
Tambyraja et al.20 provided a prospective case-control series of 57 patients undergoing
OAR for ruptured AAA. Their group reported return to baseline quality of life within 6
Beffa et al. Page 5
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months after both elective and emergent OAR for ruptured AAA using the Short Form-36
(SF-36) health survey.
Furthermore, authors have compared quality of life outcomes after EVAR and OAR. Aljabir
et al.21 analyzed quality of life outcomes following both EVAR and OAR using the SF-36
health survey. They reported significantly lower SF-36 scores in the EVAR group after 6
months when compared with the OAR group. Both groups had lower scores in the
immediate post-operative period (1 week, and 1 month), however, after 6 months those
scores did improve. The EVAR patients did have a more rapid return to per-operative scores
in two SF-36 categories (role emotional and physical function) when compared to the OAR
group. These findings do somewhat parallel our own study. Although the endovascular
approach to AAA may be less invasive, there appears to be a significant association with
both functional outcomes and quality of life within the nursing home population.
Other authors have assessed functional health status as an outcome measure based on patient
comorbidities and type of aneurysm repair. Functional health status was measured
prospectively using the SF-36 Health Survey. Physical and mental health were higher during
the 3 months following EVAR compared with open repair: physical function, vitality, and
emotional role. This analysis concluded that patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm
(AAA) repair by open technique (compared to EVAR) had significantly impaired functional
health in the first 3 months after surgery.22 In our analysis of the frail elderly, we did not see
a significant difference regarding functional outcomes associated with repair type. These
results may suggest that in the nursing home population, the type of repair is not as
significant a predictor of functional outcome as the baseline score.
Prinssen et al.23 also compared quality of life outcomes in a randomized trial comparing
EVAR and OAR. They described both groups having an initial decline in quality of life
scores using SF-36 and EuroQoL-5D. There was a small yet statistically significant
advantage in the first three weeks towards EVAR. However, in the long term, their study
suggested that OAR may have a better quality of life in the 6 month and beyond period.
There are limitations to this study. We used a large, national database to select a highly
specific cohort of long-stay nursing home residents; therefore, these results may not translate
into generalizable results for other elderly patient populations. Given that patie