Exploratory analysis on the association of mental health disorders with in-hospital postoperative complications and mortality in head and neck cancer surgery

BACKGROUND The objective was to assess the association of mental health disorders with in-hospital complication and mortality rates in patients undergoing head and neck cancer surgery. METHODS In this exploratory retrospective study, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample was queried from 2003 to 2014 for all patients with a diagnosis of head and neck cancer who underwent surgery. Univariate cross-tabulation, logistic regression, and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to compare demographics, procedure-related variables, and in-hospital postoperative complications and mortality between patients with and without selected comorbid mental health disorders. RESULTS Of 39 600 included patients, 3390 (8.6%) had a selected comorbid mental health disorder diagnosis. After PSM, patients with selected mental health disorders had increased risk of overall medical complications on multivariable analysis (OR 1.28 [CI 1.12-1.46], P < 0.001) but not overall surgical complications or mortality. CONCLUSIONS Patients with a mental health disorder diagnosis have increased risk of in-hospital medical, certain surgical, and total complications.