Inguinal hernia repair in a community setting: implications for the elderly

Objective Inguinal hernia repair is thought to be a relatively low morbidity operation. This study examined whether this tenet hold true in patients who are elderly with significant comorbidity. Design Case series. Retrospective review of a prospectively collected database. Setting Single surgeon practicing in Vermont over a period of 9 years. Patients Consecutive sample of 2,145 inguinal herniorraphies in 1,889 patients. Intervention Patients underwent an open inguinal hernia repair with mesh placement. A total of 81% of the repairs were performed under local anesthesia with intravenous sedation. Main outcome measure Presence of comorbid conditions and complications were compared between patients younger and older than 65 years. Results A total of 2,145 herniorraphies were performed on 1,889 patients (1,646 in younger patients and 499 in older patients). Hernia repairs in older patients were more likely associated with comorbid conditions than in their younger counterparts (74 vs 39%; OR = 4.55, P