A US study suggested that elderly patients hospitalized for cancer surgery have more chances of having complications later on in comparison to the middle-aged, mainly when they are suffering from many other health conditions.

The study of roughly 1 million cancer surgery patients has discovered that overall, nearly one in 10 adults of age 55 and above suffer from at least one post-operative problem, such as fractures, delirium, falls, pressure ulcers, dehydration, or unusual weight loss.

The setbacks were even more common in the case of patients aged at least 65 years old, having two or more other severe issues besides malignancies, or had undergone operation for tumors of the digestive system or surrounding organs.

However, the odds were worst in the case of people above 75 as nearly 46% of them suffered from at least one complication in comparison to 22% of adults of age group 55 to 64 years.

Lead study author Dr. Hung-Jui Tan, a researcher in urologic oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “With the population aging, it’s becoming increasingly important to consider not only survival benefits of cancer surgery but impact on functionality, vitality and quality of life. While the events studied here are specific to initial hospitalization, they can carry potential long-term ramifications”.

To find out what impact age has on the risk of post-operative complications, Tan and colleagues reviewed hospital admission records for a countrywide sample of 940,000 adults belonging to 55 and above age group who went through cancer surgery from 2009 to 2011.

Researchers reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that in comparison to patients, who were below 65, the ones who were in between 65 to 74 years old had 23% more chances of having complications, whereas the over-75 group had 66% higher odds.