Asthma is a risk factor for postoperative pulmonary complications and intra-abdominal infectious complications after gastrectomy.

[BACKGROUND] Asthma is caused by airway hyperresponsiveness and reversible obstruction. No studies have evaluated the relationship between asthma and postoperative complications after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. This study aimed to clarify the association between asthma and postoperative complications in patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

[METHODS] The clinical data of 1001 patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer at Ishikawa Prefectural Central Hospital from April 2010 to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Risk factors for postoperative complications were identified using univariate and multivariate analyses. The frequency and types of complications were evaluated in patients with and without asthma.

[RESULTS] Asthma, hypertension, male sex, and higher body mass index were risk factors for postoperative complications in the univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis, the hazard ratio for the presence of asthma had the highest value of 3.08 (95% CI, 1.610-5.870; P <.001). Patients with asthma had higher rates of anastomotic leakage (8.2% vs 2.4%; P =.008), bleeding (4.8% vs 0.3%; P <.001), pancreatic fistula (9.5% vs 2.3%; P =.001), abdominal abscess (22.2% vs 4.6%; P <.001), and pneumonia (8.9% vs 1.2%; P <.001). In addition, asthma with decreased forced expiratory volume in 1 second as a percentage was a risk factor for postoperative complications.

[CONCLUSION] Asthma was a risk factor for postoperative complications, including pneumonia and intra-abdominal infectious complications, after gastrectomy.