With the more advanced science in the field of medicine and disease management, the population of geriatric intensive care patients is increasing. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare management around the globe, especially on critically-ill elderly patients. We aim to analyse the relationship between underlying illnesses, including COVID-19, and the survival rate of elderly patients who are treated in the intensive care setting. We conducted a prospective cohort study at 14 teaching hospitals for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy Education in Indonesia. We selected all subjects with 60 years of age or older in the period between February to May 2021. Variables recorded included subject characteristics, comorbidities, and COVID-19 status. Subjects were followed for 30-day mortality as an outcome. We analysed the data using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. We recruited 982 elderly patients, and 728 subjects were in the final analysis (60.7% male; 68.0 ± 6.6 years old). The 30-day mortality was 38.6%. The top five comorbidities are hypertension (21.1%), diabetes (16.2%), moderate or severe renal disease (10.6%), congestive heart failure (9.2%), and cerebrovascular disease (9.1%). Subjects with Charlson’s Comorbidity Index Score > 5 experienced 66% death. Subjects with COVID-19 who died were 57.4%. Subjects with comorbidities and COVID-19 had lower survival time than subjects without those conditions (p < 0.005). Based on linear correlation analysis, the more comorbidities the geriatric patients in the ICU had, the higher chance of mortality in 30 days (p < 0.005, R coefficient 0.22). Approximately one in four elderly intensive care patients die, and the number is increasing with comorbidities and COVID-19 status.

Background and Aims: Enhanced recovery after cesarean (ERAC) is an interdisciplinary approach to improve patient outcomes following cesarean section. ERAC’s execution must be constantly evaluated. Thus, we aimed to analyze parameters associated with ERAC adoption for clinical care in this expanded systematic review. Material and Methods: A systematic literature search using Epistemonikos, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus was done until February 2023. The appropriate observational and experimental research comparing the effects of ERAC protocols with conventional care on postoperative adverse events, operation-related characteristics, time to first (oral intake, mobilization, bowel movement, and urinary catheter removal), and opioid use. Meta-analyses were conducted using the RevMan 5.4.1. and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 3.3 software. Results: In total, 23 studies were included in this systematic review. ERAC implementation was found to be associated with improvement in terms of shorter postoperative hospital stays and faster time to first liquid intake, first solid diet, urinary catheter removal, and mobilization. Furthermore, the rate of opioid-free treatment, total in-hospital morphine milligram equivalent (MME), daily in-hospital MME, and total prescribed opioid pills at discharge (all parameters, P < 0.01) were significantly better in the ERAC group than in the conventional care group. However, no significant difference was observed regarding postoperative adverse events, blood loss, operation duration, and total prescribed MME at discharge parameters between the two observed groups. Conclusion: ERAC implementation is associated with better healthcare delivery, as determined by shorter time to first, lower opioid consumption, and shorter postoperative length of stay compared with conventional care. However, it is not associated with a lower dosage of opioid prescription at discharge.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact on geriatric patients worldwide since geriatrics itself is an age group with a high risk due to declined physiological function and many comorbidities, especially for those who undergo surgery. In this study, we determine the association between perioperative factors with 30-day mortality and a survival rate of geriatric patients undergoing surgery during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted at 14 central hospitals in Indonesia. The recorded variables were perioperative factors, 30-day mortality, and survival rate. Analyses of associations between variables and 30-day mortality were performed using univariate/multivariable logistic regression, and survival rates were determined with Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Results: We analyzed 1621 elderly patients. The total number of patients who survived within 30 days of observation was 4.3%. Several perioperative factors were associated with 30-day mortality (p < 0.05) is COVID-19 (OR, 4.34; 95% CI, 1.04–18.07; p = 0.04), CCI > 3 ( odds ratio [OR], 2.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–5.26; p = 0.04), emergency surgery (OR, 3.70; 95% CI, 1.96–7.00; p ≤ 0.01), postoperative ICU care (OR, 2.70; 95% CI, 1.32–5.53; p = 0.01), and adverse events (AEs) in the ICU (OR, 3.43; 95% CI, 1.32–8.96; p = 0.01). Aligned with these findings, COVID-19, CCI > 3, and comorbidities have a log-rank p < 0.05. The six comorbidities that have log-rank p < 0.05 are moderate-to-severe renal disease (log-rank p ≤ 0.01), cerebrovascular disease (log-rank p ≤ 0.01), diabetes with chronic complications (log-rank p = 0.03), metastatic solid tumor (log-rank p = 0.02), dementia (log-rank p ≤ 0.01), and rheumatology disease (log-rank p = 0.03). Conclusions: Having at least one of these conditions, such as COVID-19, comorbidities, emergency surgery, postoperative ICU care, or an AE in the ICU were associated with increased mortality in geriatric patients undergoing surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waste anesthetic gas (WAG) is a small amount of inhaled anesthetic gas that comes out of the patient’s anesthesia breathing circuit into the envorinment air while the patient is under anesthesia. According to American Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) more than 200.000 healthcare workers especially aneaesthesiologist, surgery nurse, obstetrician and surgeons are at risk of developing work-related disease due to chronic exposure to WAG. Exposure to WAG in short time associated with multiple problems such as headaches, irritability, fatigue, nausea, drowsiness, decrease work efficiency and difficulty with judgment and coordination. While chronic exposure of WAG is associated with genotoxicity, mutagenicity, oxidative stress, fatigue, headache, irritability, nausea, nephrotoxic, neurotoxic, hepatotoxic, immunosuppressive and reproductive toxicological effect. Waste anesthetic gases are known as environmental pollutants and will be released from the OR to the outside environment then the substance will reach the atmosphere damaging ozone layer. Exposure to trace WAG in the perioperative environment cannot be eliminated completely, but it can be controlled. Controlling WAG can be achieve by using scavenging system, proper ventilation, airway management, ideal anesthetic choice, maintaining anesthesia machine and equipment, hospital regulation and routine healthcare workers health status examination.