Goode, Cary and Merwin Submit to Duke Forge

Victoria Goode, Michael Cary and Beth Merwin recently made a submission to Duke Forge for their inaugural design workshop. Their submission was entitled "Using Cluster Analysis to Develop New Classifications of Obesity to Determine Surgical Risk for and Total Joint Replacement Patients: Controlling for patient and hospital characteristics, what is the influence of obesity on surgical complications and 30-day hospital readmission?"

Their project aims to develop a new measure for surgical risk using a cluster analysis, which will identify important subgroups of obese patients to inform and tailor management strategies. The method groups together individuals based upon similarity across the set of characteristics. They plan to use the exploratory analysis of TKR patients to generate hypotheses to drive future research. 

Using both the national and clinical data from Duke Health System will allow for a greater understanding of modifiable risk factors that influence surgical outcomes. It is expected the results will inform both quality improvement efforts and the development of clinical and health system interventions.  Specifically, study findings will guide the field on the importance of considering obesity as a marker for increased risk for complications by identifying subgroups of surgical patients so that targeted interventions can be developed and support development evidence-based clinical guidelines for obese patients undergoing non-bariatric surgery.