Harvard Health Content API

Older patients who fall in the 6 months before major surgery are more likely to have complications after surgery, a new study finds. The study included 235 people – mostly men — ages 65 and older. All had elective heart or intestinal surgery. Thirty-three percent had reported falling in the 6 months before surgery. Researchers compared the number of complications among patients who had fallen to patients who hadn’t fallen. Complications included heart attacks, infections, strokes and blood clots. They found that 59% of patients in the intestinal surgery group who had fallen experienced complications, compared with 25% of patients who hadn’t fallen. Among heart surgery patients, 39% of people who fell had complications, compared with 15% of those who didn’t fall.