Perioperative medicine & outcomes
SNAP-3: characteristics of specific subgroups of older patients undergoing surgery in the UK
Authors' conclusion
This snapshot of surgical patients in the UK highlights the high prevalence of frailty, postoperative morbidity, and mortality in key surgical subgroups
Study context
- Population
- Patients aged ≥60 yr undergoing daycase, inpatient, elective or emergency surgery (minor or superficial excluded) during 5 days in March 2022 across 214 UK hospitals7,134 analysed
- Participants
- 7,821 patients
- Exposure
- Specific subgroups of older surgical patients: hip fracture surgery, aged ≥85 yr, emergency vs elective, orthopaedic
- Outcome
- Frailty prevalence by subgroup
Methodological detailsmulticentre, subgroups defined a priori, descriptive statistics
- Multicentre
- Subgroups defined a priori
- Descriptive statistics
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | Values |
|---|---|
| Postoperative LOS | Emergency median 5 (IQR 1–13) days · Elective median 1 (IQR 0–3) days |
| Delirium | Emergency 16.3% · Elective 2.7% |
| Postoperative morbidity | Hip fracture surgery 85.3% · Aged ≥85 yr 49.1% · Emergency 49.5% |
| Mortality · 30 days | Hip fracture surgery 5.0% · Aged ≥85 yr 3.9% · Emergency 3.0% |
- Delirium: denominators: 2138; 4922
- Postoperative morbidity: denominators: 484; 747; 2138
- Mortality: denominators: 484; 741; 2124
Original publication
SNAP-3: characteristics of specific subgroups of older patients undergoing surgery in the UK. Br J Anaesth. Published 4 September 2025. doi:10.
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