Serum albumin level as a potential predictor of delayed healing after minor oral surgery among patients aged over 65 years: the results of a retrospective cohort study

Abstract Background: Older adults compose the significant proportion of patients undergoing minor oral surgery to restore oral function worldwide; however, these procedures possess certain risks of late complications, particularly delayed healing. Therefore, this study mainly aims to assess the frequency of this type of adverse effects and identify the predictors of delayed healing among patients aged over 65 years. Methods: A total of 106 participants aged over 65 years who underwent minor oral surgical interventions at the Department of Oral Medicine, Hokkaido University Hospital from 2015 to 2022 were selected from the database and were divided into two healing groups: the non-delayed (n = 87) and delayed (n = 19). The delayed healing was defined as lack of healing for more than 10 days. The clinical parameters for comparison included those of clinical examination and laboratory tests assessed before surgery. Fisher’s exact test, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the results. Results: Delayed healing was the most frequent postsurgical complication (17.9%) among all the patients. Serum albumin level (odds ratio, 10.0; 95% confidence interval, 2.15–46.6) significantly differed between the groups of patients with and without delayed healing. The multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that serum albumin level of <3.5 g/dL (odds ratio, 10.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.83–56.2) was strongly associated with delayed healing. Conclusions: This study revealed that the level of serum albumin can predict delayed healing among patients aged over 65 years who undergo minor oral surgery. Trial registration: Retrospectively registered.