WIKIMEDIA, ION CHIBZIIOpen heart surgery is linked to better patient outcomes when carried out in the afternoon, rather than in the morning, according to a study published yesterday (October 26) in The Lancet. The reasons have to do with circadian rhythms, and the risk of heart damage following operation, researchers report.
“Our study found that post-surgery heart damage is more common among people who have heart surgery in the morning, compared to the afternoon,” says coauthor David Montaigne of the University of Lille, France, in a statement. “Our findings suggest this is because part of the biological mechanism behind the damage is affected by a person’s circadian clock and the underlying genes that control it.”
In an observational study of nearly 600 people receiving heart valve replacement surgery from January 2009 to December 2015, the team identified a 50 percent lower risk of heart failure or another cardiac event in people operated on in the afternoon, instead of in the morning. A one-year, randomized controlled trial of 88 patients that concluded last February also established a ...
