Perioperative Morbidity and Mortality in Patients Undergoing Elective and Emergency Surgery during covid-19 Pandemic in a Fourth Level Hospital

Introduction: During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, an increase in perioperative morbidity and mortality was described in the period previous to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Objective: To determine the cumulative incidence of covid-19 and global mortality 30 days after the procedure in patients undergoing surgery. Methodology: Retrospective cohort of 314 patients who underwent surgery between 03/06/2020 and 06/30/2021. These patients were randomly selected. Preoperatively RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 was taken in all patients, and postoperatively in patients with new onset of symptoms. Results: At 30 days after the surgical intervention, a cumulative incidence of covid-19 of 0.97% and a global mortality of 2.2% were found. Of the perioperative SARS-CoV-2 patients, 3 out of 7 had significant comorbidities and had postoperative mortality attributed to covid-19. Conclusion: The cumulative incidence of covid-19 was similar to other cohorts' reports, a high 30 -day mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 was observed among these patients. These findings should reinforce the need for health institutions to strengthen perioperative prevention measures, the active search for infected patients, as well as the prioritization of surgical procedures to face future pandemics.