Surgery causes transient impairment in cognition and function, which may impact driving safety. The authors hypothesized that the risk of a motor vehicle crash would increase after compared to before surgery.
The authors performed a nested case-crossover study within population-based observational data from the New Jersey Safety Health Outcomes Data Warehouse. The study included adults 18 yr or older with a valid driver’s license who underwent general surgery in an acute care hospital in New Jersey between January 1, 2016, and November 30, 2017, and were discharged home. Individuals served as their own controls within a presurgery interval (56 days to 28 days before surgery) and postsurgery interval (discharge through 28 days after surgery). General surgery was defined by Common Procedural Terminology Codes. The primary outcome was a police-reported motor vehicle crash.
In a cohort of 70,722 drivers, the number of crashes after surgery was 263 (0.37%) compared to 279 (0.39%) before surgery. Surgery was not associated with a change in crash incidence greater than 28 days using a case-crossover design (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.78 to 1.09; P = 0.340). Statistical interaction was present for sex and hospital length of stay. Younger versus older adults (adjusted risk ratio, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.10 to 3.18; P = 0.021) and non-Hispanic Black individuals (adjusted risk ratio, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.33 to 2.88; P = 0.001) and Hispanic individuals (adjusted risk ratio, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.91; P = 0.047) versus non-Hispanic White individuals had a greater risk of a crash after surgery.
Using population-based crash and hospital discharge data, the incidence of motor vehicle crashes over a 28-day period did not change on average before compared to after surgery. The authors provide data on crash risk after surgery and highlight specific populations at risk.
- There are limited data to guide return to driving recommendations for patients undergoing surgery
- It remains unclear whether patients have an increased risk of motor vehicle crashes in the first few weeks after surgery compared to before surgery
- In a cohort of 70,722 drivers in New Jersey undergoing inpatient or outpatient general surgery and discharged to home, the number of crashes in the 4 weeks after surgery (263, 0.37%) was similar to the number of crashes over a 4-week period before surgery (279, 0.39%)
- Consistent with nonsurgical populations, specific demographic groups were at higher risk of a crash after surgery
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