Socioeconomic status, race and diabetes affect the likelihood that a patient will cancel retinal surgery, according to study results reported by DocWire News.
Researchers analyzed 3,306 consecutive surgical cases scheduled at a multi-provider, multi-location retina practice during a 10-month period and defined cancellation as "a surgery that had been scheduled with the surgical center and was not performed." The results were published as part of the American Society of Retina Specialists 2020 Virtual Meeting.
The overall cancellation rate was about 6 percent. The cancellation rates for patients living in low-income and high-income zip codes were 10.15 percent and 3.98 percent, respectively.
The relative risk of cancellation was also higher among patients with diabetes, non-white patients and patients requiring surgery deemed non-acute. Gender and age did not significantly affect the risk of surgery cancellation.