Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Intraoperative Hypothermia in Patients Undergoing General Anesthesia Intervention: A Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

BACKGROUND Intraoperative and postoperative hypothermia of patients can be caused by the use of anesthetic drugs and the complicated and time-consuming procedures of interventional surgery. This retrospective study included 184 patients to investigate the incidence and factors associated with hypothermia during intraoperative anesthesia in a single center in China between January and October 2023. MATERIAL AND METHODS A convenient sampling method was used to select 184 patients who underwent general anesthesia intervention in a tertiary hospital in Sichuan Province from January to October 2023 as the study population. The independent factors influencing the occurrence of intraoperative hypothermia were analyzed. A survey was conducted to collect 5 demographic factors, 4 preoperative-related factors, and 10 surgically related factors. According to the occurrence of intraoperative hypothermia, the independent influencing factors of unplanned hypothermia during perioperative period were further analyzed. RESULTS Among 184 patients, 64 (34.78%) experienced perioperative unplanned hypothermia, of which 5 (7.81%) cases occurred before the start of surgery, 7 (10.94%) occurred before the start of surgery after anesthesia, and 52 (81.25%) occurred during surgery. Logistic regression analysis showed that body temperature at the beginning of surgery (P<0.001), set operating room temperature (P<0.001), duration of anesthesia (P=0.006), and age (P=0.001) were independent influencing factors for unplanned hypothermia during perioperative period. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of intraoperative hypothermia is high in patients undergoing general anesthesia interventions. Age, duration of anesthesia, set operating room temperature, and body temperature at the beginning of the operation were independent influencing factors for the occurrence of unplanned hypothermia during the perioperative period.