Wirthmann AE, et al. - A large series of consecutive breast reductions procedures were investigated to assess whether patients' age at the time of operation is related to the postoperative outcome. Findings revealed that older patients undergoing reduction mammoplasty were at higher risk for complications, presumably due to the higher prevalence of comorbidities in this patient group as compared to young patients.

Methods

• A retrospective review was performed of all non-oncologic breast reduction procedures at a single institution over a ten year time period.
• Researchers analyzed patients (age, BMI, comorbidities, medication) and operation specific characteristics' (pedicle, nipple-to-sternal notch, resection weight, complications) to identify risk factors related to patients' age at the time of operation.
• According to their age, patients were divided into three groups: (group I ≤20 years, group II ≥60 years, group III 21 to 59 years)

Results

• This study included 539 patients; in total 1065 reduction mammoplasties were performed over a ten year period.
• Findings revealed the overall complication rate of 33% (n=175).
• Excluding minor complications, researchers realized the total complication rate of 9.5% (n=51).
• For major and minor complications, high body mass index (≥30 kg/m²)(p=0.02) seemed a statistically significant risk factor.
• In this study, smoking (p=0.09) and age ≥ 60 years (p=0.08) showed a tendency toward higher risk for major and minor complications.