This study assessed inter-hospital variability in operative-vs-nonoperative management of pediatric adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO).
A multi-institutional retrospective study was performed examining patients 1–21 years-of-age presenting with ASBO from 2010–2019 utilizing the Pediatric Health Information System. Multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression was performed assessing inter-hospital variability in operative-vs-nonoperative management of ASBO.
Among 6,410 pediatric ASBO admissions identified at 46 hospitals, 3,239 (50.5%) underwent surgery during that admission. The hospital-specific rate of surgery ranged from 35.3% (95%CI: 28.5%–42.6%) to 74.7% (66.3%–81.6%) in the unadjusted model (p
