Post-surgical mortality

The risk of dying during or shortly after surgery has declined dramatically worldwide over the past fifty years.

Researchers at the University of Western Ontario examined data from 87 other studies from around the world on the rate of deaths during or immediately after surgery.

They found that prior to 1970, 10,600 people died out of every million surgeries within 24 to 48 hours of the procedure.

By the 1990s and 2000s, that number dropped to just over 1,100 people per million.

Better drugs, better training, better operating room environments, and better equipment are getting the credit.