Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Pelvic Organ Prolapse Surgery in the United States: An Analysis of the ACS-NSQIP Clinical Registry

Objective: To assess the types of POP surgery performed and patients' morbidity and mortality according to race and ethnicity in the United States. Methods: Using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, we identified patients who had undergone POP procedures and stratified them by race and ethnicity. We compared differences in patient's baseline comorbidities and distribution of POP repairs performed. We further evaluated racial and ethnic disparities concerning complications, readmissions, reoperations, and mortality rates by performing univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: From 2012-2017, we identified 50,561 patients who underwent a primary POP repair procedure. The majority of patients were white (89.8%), followed by blacks (5.5%), and others (4.7%). Hispanics made up only 11.2% of the cohort. Black and Hispanic patients were younger, had higher BMI and suffered from a higher number of comorbidities than their white counterparts. There were significant differences in the types of POP procedures performed according to race and ethnicity. Despite no significant differences noted in overall complication rates, the types of complications varied by race and ethnicity. Neither race nor ethnicity was a significant predictor of reoperation or mortality. Conclusion: There are notable racial and ethnic disparities in patients’ comorbidities and types of POP repairs performed among women undergoing POP surgery in the United States. Although black patients are at a higher risk for readmission, there were no observed differences in complication, reoperation, or mortality rates according to race and ethnicity.