Socioeconomic Status Does Not Influence the Presentation of Patients with Inguinal Hernia at an Urban Canadian Teaching Hospital

Socioeconomic status (SES) influences the outcomes of surgical pathologies in areas with unequal access to healthcare. The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of SES on the urgency for inguinal hernia repair in a universal healthcare system.

All adult patients who underwent surgical management of an inguinal hernia between2012 and 2016 at the affiliated hospitals were included. The SES was measured using the Vancouver Area Neighborhood Deprivation Index (VANDIX) score.

We identified 2,306 patients. Included were 98 emergency surgery cases and 294elective surgery controls matched for age, sex and ASA. No correlation was found between lower SES and emergency surgical management (p=0.334). Secondary analysis assessed the impact of SES on morbidity and length of stay. In the elective group, lower SES correlated with an increased risk of having an extended length of stay (OR 1.737; 95% CI[1.09-2.80]). In the emergency group, lower SES had decreased odds for multiple complications (OR 0.22; 95% CI[0.04-0.83]).

In conclusion, we found no correlation between a low SES and the need foremergency inguinal hernia repair.

Keywords: Inguinal Hernia, Socio-economic status, VANDIX

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

CLE, Laane and LE, Rosenkrantz and N, Schuurman and SM, Hameed and E, Joos, Socioeconomic Status Does Not Influence the Presentation of Patients with Inguinal Hernia at an Urban Canadian Teaching Hospital. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3529616 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3529616