The average convalescent period after six types of common surgical operations has been estimated by the National Center for Health Statistics as part of the National Health Survey.
Information was collected concerning an estimated 4,709,000 patients who had been discharged from shortstay hospitals during the interview year of July 1960-July 1961.
The operations were tonsillectomy. appendectomy, hemorrhoidectomy, hernia, hysterectomy, and delivery other than Cesarean. These where chosen, according to the NCHS, because they are performed frequently enough to produce reliable findings and because each is a surgical procedure easily identifiable in interviewing.
Of the estimated 611,000 persons discharged after tonsillectomies, the average convalescence period was 10.2 days. (The convalescence is defined in the study as the period from the date of the operation to the date the patient resumed his usual fulltime activity of employment, housekeeping or study.)
The 303,000 appendectomy discharges and the 236,000 hemorrhoidectomy discharges averaged 28.1 and