Fewer patients die if their surgeon is aged over 60

PATIENTS who have emergency operations carried out by older surgeons are more likely to survive, a study suggests.

It found slightly lower death rates after surgery by those over 60 compared with younger doctors at the same hospitals.

The US researchers examined mortality rates of patients aged over 65 who had one of 20 major emergency operations between 2011 and 2014. In total, 45,826 surgeons treated 892,187 patients, of whom 56,803 died – a death rate of 6.4 per cent.

The rate was slightly higher at 6.6 per cent for surgeons aged under 40 than for all other age groups. It was 6.3 per cent for those aged over 60, 6.4 per cent for those in their 50s and 6.5 per cent for those in their 40s. The researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, took into account other factors that could affect mortality, including patients’ age, sex and ethnicity.

For non-emergency surgery, such as hip replacements, the age and sex of the surgeon made no difference to death rates.

Previous studies found older surgeons tended to have worse patient outcomes, which was blamed on their reliance on outdated techniques.

But the latest findings, published in the British Medical Journal, suggest older surgeons may have better skills under pressure because of their extra years of experience.

Researchers warned the study did not prove cause and effect so it was not possible to confirm whether death rates were linked to surgeon age.