Age is not a barrier to good outcomes following ambulatory high ligation and stripping for varicose veins: A prospective cohort study

This was a prospective cohort study with a short-term follow-up. To explore whether age is a factor in the prognosis following high ligation and stripping (HLS) performed in an ambulatory care center. This study included 170 patients who underwent their first HLS for varicose veins in an ambulatory center from November 2016 to October 2017 at West China Hospital. The patients were categorized as two groups: the ≤60 years old group and the >60 years old group. We collected the two age groups data included Clinical, Etiology, Anatomy, and Pathophysiology (CEAP) classification, Venous Clinical Severity Score (VCSS), Visual Analogue Score (VAS), Aberdeen Varicose Veins Questionnaire (AVVQ), Quality of Recovery (QoR-15), and postoperative complications at predetermined time points. The clinical correlation between age and prognosis following HLS in an ambulatory care center was prospectively studied after adjusting for potential confounders. The distribution of age and prognosis were also compared in the AVVQ improvement and VCSS improvement of patients at 6 weeks and 6 months after surgery. Our research comprised a total of 170 patients (236 limbs), of which 86 (50.6%) patients were female and 66 (38.8%) patients received bilateral procedures. After multivariable risk adjustment for potential confounding factors, we observed that age was not associated with the improvement of AVVQ (OR 0.3, 95%CI (1.3, 0.7), P = .54) and VCSS (OR 0.2, 95%CI (0.2, 0.6) P = .38) at 6 months after HLS, as well as AVVQ (OR 0.5,95%CI (1.2, 2.2), P = .57) at 6 weeks after HLS. However, at 6 weeks after HLS, age was related to the improvement of VCSS (OR −0.6, 95%CI (1.2, 0.1), P = .03), with the >60 years old group having a lower VCSS improvement compared to the 60 years old group. In postoperative complications, there were no significant differences in terms of complications between the two age groups (all P value >.05). Therefore, in our opinion, age is not a barrier for good outcomes following HLS in an ambulatory care center.