Association of Race and Postoperative Outcomes in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Previous literature suggests that rates of postoperative complications following inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) surgery differ based on race.

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between race and adverse events and wound complications in patients with IBD.

This was a retrospective cohort study of the American College of Surgeons National Surgery Quality Improvement Program Inflammatory Bowel Disease Collaborative from 2017 to 2022. The data was collected from 15 high-volume IBD centers across the United States. The data was analyzed using crude and multivariable logistic regressions.

4284 patients were included in the study. Overall rates of adverse events and wound complications were 20.3% and 11.3%, respectively, and did not differ based on race on bivariate analysis. Rates of adverse events were 20.0% vs 24.6% vs 22.1%, p = 0.13 for white, black and other minority subjects, respectively. The adjusted odds of adverse events were higher for black subjects (1.46 [95%CI 1.0–2.1], p = 0.03) compared to white subjects. No difference in adverse events was found between other minority subjects and either black or white subjects (1.29 [0.7–2.3], p = 0.58). Race was not associated with likelihood of wound complications in the final analysis.

We found that a subset of black patients with IBD continue to experience more adverse events compared to white patients, primarily driven by a higher need for postoperative blood transfusion. Nonetheless, known risk factors, including comorbid conditions, decreased BMI, open surgery, and emergency surgery have a stronger association with postoperative complications than race alone.