Effect of total fasting hours on the overall quality of recovery after surgery: An observational study

Context: Preoperative fasting is one of the pre-requisite for patients undergoing a surgery. Despite clear instructions, patients frequently fast for extended periods before elective surgeries. Longer periods of fasting may cause discomfort, thirst, hunger, and other physiological problems. Aims: To assess the quality of postoperative recovery among adult patients having different preoperative fasting hours by using the postoperative Quality of Recovery40 (QoR40) score. Settings and Design: This was an observational study that was conducted for adult patients undergoing elective surgery during four weeks between 19th September and 13th October 2022 at Security Forces Hospital Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods and Material: We excluded pediatric patients, patients undergoing spine or neurosurgery, emergency cases, or local anesthesia cases. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used in this study. The postoperative quality of recovery-40 (QoR-40) questionnaire was distributed among 200 patients. Statistical Analysis Used: All analyses were performed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) v25. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, median, and IQR) were used for the questionnaire's variables. The difference between the variables was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis, and a P value