A retrospective study examining the association between polypharmacy and complications after laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer.

Background: Polypharmacy is an escalating public health concern across various healthcare settings worldwide. We aimed to comprehensively investigate postoperative complications after laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer and explore their association with polypharmacy. As laparoscopic surgery is widespread, clarifying the association between polypharmacy and postoperative complications is clinically important.

Methods: We retrospectively surveyed the medical charts of adult inpatients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer at Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University Hospital between April 2019 and March 2023. Postoperative complications were determined using the Clavien-Dindo classification. We explored the factors related to postoperative complications and calculated the cut-off values for the number of medication ingredients.

Results: Among the 236 patients, 32 (13.6%) developed postoperative complications. On multivariable logistic regression analysis, the number of regularly used medication ingredients (odds ratio = 1.160, 95% confidence interval 1.050-1.270, p = 0.002) was identified as a factor related to postoperative complications. The identified cut-off value for complications was 10 ingredients. Patients using 10 or more ingredients had approximately 3.5 times higher occurrence of postoperative complications than those using fewer than 10 ingredients (33.3% vs. 9.3%, p < 0.001, Fisher's exact test).

Conclusions: Our study comprehensively investigated postoperative complications and examined their association with polypharmacy. We found that the number of regularly used medication ingredients may be linked to complications following laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer. These findings have important implications for perioperative management and patient care, providing valuable insights that may influence clinical practices and enhance patient outcomes.