Sensitivity Analyses
The statement outcomes barely changed after excluding the nonacademic centers, without any shifts in the 3 categories of agreement. Exclusion of nonsurgeons lead to the movement of statement 5—regarding the prioritization of patients with limited/without comorbidity for surgery to increase the ICU capacity—to the lowest group of agreement (61.1%–59.9%).
Analyzing the outcomes of Europe (n = 149, 44.2%), Asia (n = 115, 34.1%), and the Americas (ie, North and South America) (n = 71, 21.1%) separately demonstrated some changes in agreement. The European respondents did not reach consensus on statement 3 (76.5% agreement) regarding the prioritization of patients based on objective prognostic factors and comorbidity. In contrast to the overall outcomes, Asia achieved consensus on statement 4 (81.7% agreement) to prioritize each patient for pancreatic surgery, based on prognostic factors. Whereas Europe agreed on the importance of high-volume centers to operate high-risk patients during the COVID-19 pandemic (87.9% agreement), both Asia (75.7% agreement) and the Americas (76.1% agreement) did not reach consensus on statement 16. The recommendation for preoperative screening on COVID-19 (statement 19) reached solely consensus (84.5% agreement) in the Americas. See Table—Supplemental Digital Content 2–4, for the statement outcomes of Europe, Asia, and the Americas separately.