Male gender impact on the outcome of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to assess the impact of male gender on the outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy by eliminating associated risk factors for conversion.

METHODS

A quantitative comparative study was set up on the background of our null hypothesis that male gender has no impact on the outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We performed a retrospective study of 241 patients and recorded the duration of surgery, length of postoperative hospital stay, conversion rate, and procedure-specific complications. Risk factors for conversion were excluded. Inferential statistics were applied, and a 2-sided P value of < .05 was considered the cutoff point to indicate the amount of evidence against the null hypothesis. We used SPSS for Windows, version 12 (IBM, Armonk, New York). Parametric data were analyzed with the independent-samples t test, and nonparametric data were analyzed with the χ(2) test.

RESULTS

A total of 175 women (72.6%) and 66 men (27.4%) underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The mean age was 51.4 ± 14.8 years for women and 55 ± 12.7 years for men (P = .08). Women had a higher body mass index (28.4 ± 4.5) than men (26.8 ± 3.5) (P < .005). There were no statistically significant differences in the conversion rate and perioperative morbidity rate. The conversion rate was 2.9% for women and 7.5% for men (P = .142); the morbidity rate was 10.2% and 12.1%, respectively (P = .66). The mean duration of surgery was longer in men, at 67.9 ± 27.8 minutes, than in women, at 56.5 ± 23.98 minutes (P < .002). Both genders had an equal length of postoperative hospital stay, with 1.9 ± 1.8 days for men and 1.9 ± 2.1 days for women (P = .8).

CONCLUSIONS

Male gender has no impact on the outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Gender affects the duration of surgery. Larger-scale studies may disclose the factors responsible for variations in the operative time.