Background: Post-operative complications present a challenge to the healthcare system due to the high unpredictability of their incidence. However, the socioeconomic factors that relate to postoperative complications are still unclear as they can be heterogeneous based on communities, types of surgical services, and sex and gender.
Methods: In this study, we conducted a large population cross-sectional analysis of social vulnerability and the odds of various post-surgical complications. We built statistical logistic regression models of postsurgical complications with social vulnerability index as the independent variable along with sex interaction.
Results: We found that social vulnerability was associated with abnormal heart rhythm with socioeconomic status and housing status being the main association factors. We also found associations of the interaction of social vulnerability and female sex with an increase in odds of heart attack and surgical wound infection.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that social vulnerability measures such as socioeconomic status and housing conditions could be related to health outcomes. This suggests that the domain of preventive medicine should place social vulnerability as a priority to achieve its goals.
Keywords: Social vulnerability; housing status; postsurgical complications; sex interaction; socioeconomic status.