Association between post-COVID-19 status and perioperative morbidity and mortality: protocol for an ambispective cohort study

INTRODUCTION: With COVID-19 bringing persistent impact on the worldwide population, perioperative management after SARS-CoV-2 infection needs to be revisited in the new period of different circulating coronavirus variants, vaccination status, increased reinfection rate and new disease control policies. This study aims to explore the association between time to surgery after COVID-19 diagnosis and the risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a single-centre ambispective cohort study. Patients with preoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection who require inpatient surgical intervention from 1 December 2022 to 28 February 2023 will be included. Baseline assessment will include the time interval between preoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and surgery, COVID-19 diagnosis and symptoms, vaccination status and routine preoperative evaluations. The primary outcome will be postoperative composite complications within 30 days after surgery. Association between post-COVID-19 interval and the outcomes will be explored using logistic regression after adjusting for confounding variables. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (IRB K3570). We aim to publish and disseminate the findings in peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences and on social media. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05689840.