Socioeconomic Status Based on Area Deprivation Index Does Not Affect Postoperative Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Endovascular Aortic Aneurysm Repair in the VA Health-Care System

Background

Living conditions and socioeconomic status are known to impact individual health and access to medical care. Prior research has validated the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) tool as a measure of socioeconomic disadvantage for a given locality. Living in a neighborhood with a higher ADI score has been associated with increased rates of hospital readmission due to complications following surgery. We set forth to identify the possible associations between a patient's ADI score and postoperative endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) outcomes in the Veterans Health Care Administration (VHA).

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of patients who underwent EVAR from January 2010 to December 2021 at a level 1A VHA Hospital. Patient demographics and intraoperative variables were obtained. ADI score was calculated based on home addresses and resulted in a local score on a scale of 1–10 and a national percentile on a scale of 1–100. We then further stratified these patients into local and national quintile groups. Local ADI 1 included scores of 1–2, and local ADI 5 included scores of 9–10. National ADI 1 comprised scores 1–20, and national ADI 5 scored 81–100. The other scores were equally divided into ADI 2, 3, and 4. Higher ADI scores were associated with lower socioeconomic status. We identified clinical outcomes, including wound infection, respiratory failure, urinary tract infection, acute kidney injury, limb stenosis, readmission, length of stay, and subsequent reintervention rates.

Results

241 patients underwent EVAR over the time period examined. 57.3% (n = 138) of patients were in quintiles 4 and 5 for local ADI; when national ADI percentiles organized these same patients, 47.3% (n = 114) were in quintiles 4 and 5. Patient demographics did not vary between the local and national groups. We saw no statistically significant difference in intraoperative variables, postoperative complications, readmission, loss to follow-up, or 1-year mortality rates across ADI quintiles at the local or national level. Binary Logistic Regression showed no statistical significance for local and national ADI quintiles for hospital readmission and overall postoperative complications.

Conclusions

We found that there was no statistical significance between hospital readmission rates or worse surgical outcomes across local and national ADI quintiles. This suggests that the VHA resources and multidisciplinary support may improve care across neighborhoods. This comprehensive care provided at VHA may mitigate postoperative complications in patients undergoing EVARs. Further research is warranted to investigate the role of area deprivation in health care and EVAR outcomes in a veteran population.