An observational study in Postoperative Complications and Alcohol Use Disorder, sponsored by University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 21 Years to 79 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-04.
Sponsored by University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center · Observational
This study aims to see if there's a link between a substance called phosphatidylethanol (PEth) and how patients who have surgery at University Hospitals do after surgery. PEth levels reflect the amount of alcohol use by someone over the past few weeks. This study is checking PEth levels on all patients who are planned to stay in the hospital for three or more days after surgery regardless if they drink alcohol. Specifically, it will look at if PEth levels are connected to problems that might come up during and after surgery, like confusion, lung or heart issues, needing blood transfusions, infections, unexpected intensive care unit (ICU) stays, and longer hospital stays. While there are reports of moderate alcohol consumption being good for the heart, there are other data that alcohol consumption can be harmful. Since there's not much information on how drinking alcohol affects health outcomes during and after surgery, especially for patients who are planned to be admitted to the hospital ward or ICU after surgery, this study will hopefully see if PEth levels before surgery can predict how patients do after the surgery.
The inclusion criteria to only include patients who consume alcoholic beverages was an IRB approved modification after already recruiting 1/3 of patients.
1,332 studies on the registry are indexed under Postoperative Complications; 311 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 170 is below the median of 251 across 537 observational studies indexed under Postoperative Complications.
Browse Postoperative Complications studies →University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center is the lead sponsor of 295 studies on the registry; 45 are open to participants now.
Of its 36 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 30 (83%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Patients undergoing elective surgery at UHCMC.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Patients will have a single blood sample sent for PEth testing.
Other: Blood Draw
Patients will have a single blood sample sent for PEth testing, blood draws will happen during standard of care blood draw.
Phosphatidylethanol level as measured by blood draw.
Time frame: Baseline
Length of ICU stay measured in days
Time frame: Up to 7 days
Length of hospital stay measured in days
Time frame: Up to 2 weeks
Number of perioperative complications as measured by medical record review.
Perioperative complications including but not limited to delirium, pulmonary complications, cardiovascular complications, need for transfusion including amount transfused, post-operative infections, unexpected admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and increased length of stay
Time frame: Up to six months
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started May 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2026, 18 months after the start.
Of 276 non-industry observational studies under Postoperative Complications, half reached primary completion within 22 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 40. This study's planned 18 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 281 studies reached it within 23 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 39.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
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