seroma, and superficial wound dehiscence were higher in the mesh group, but were associated with low morbidity. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03293862. Primary Fascial Closure During Laparoscopic Ventral Hernia Repair Improves Patient Quality of Life: A Multicenter, Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial Karla Bernardi, MD, Oscar A Olavarria, MD, Julie Holihan, MD, Lillian S Kao, MD, FACS, Tien C Ko, MD, FACS, John S Roth, MD, FACS, Shawn Tsuda, MD, FACS, Khashayar Vaziri, MD, FACS, Mike K Liang, MD, FACS McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX; McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, Washington, DC; University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY; University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV; University of Texas Health and Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX INTRODUCTION: Observational studies have reported conflicting results with primary fascial closure (PFC) vs bridged repair during laparoscopic ventral hernia repair (LVHR). We hypothesized that PFC compared with bridged repair would improve quality of life (QoL). METHODS: In this multicenter, blinded, randomized controlled trial (RCT), patients scheduled for elective LVHR (hernia defects 3-10 cm) were randomized to PFC vs bridged repair. Pri- mary outcome was change in QoL after LVHR using a validated, hernia-specific survey (1 ¼ poor and 100 ¼ perfect QoL) measuring pain, function, cosmesis, and satisfaction. Secondary outcomes were postoperative surgical site occurrences (hema- toma, seroma, surgical site infection, and wound dehiscence), abdominal eventration, and hernia recurrence. The trial was powered to detect the previously determined minimum clinically important difference in QoL change (7 points) between study groups. Outcomes were compared with Mann-Whitney U test or chi-square. RESULTS: A total of 129 patients underwent LVHR and 107 (83%) completed median follow-up of 24 months (range: 9-42). Baseline health and hernia characteristics were similar between the 2 groups. Both groups had on average a significant improve- ment in QoL, but patients in the PFC group had a 12-point higher average improvement compared with bridged repair (41.3  31.5 vs 29.7  28.7, p ¼ 0.047). There were no differences in secondary outcomes between groups (Table). CONCLUSION: This is the first RCT demonstrating that PFC with LVHR significantly improves patient QoL without increasing complications. Additional multicenter trials should be performed to validate these findings. Prospective Evaluation of Health Literacy and Its Impact on Outcomes after Emergency General Surgery Elisa Calabrese, MS, Zaid Haddadin, MD, Mohammad K Hamidi, MD, Abdul Tawab K Saljuqi, MD, MPH, El Rasheid Zakaria, MD, PhD, Lynn M Gries, MD, FACS, Muhammad Zeeshan, MD, Narong Kulvatunyou, MD, Kamil Hanna, MD, Bellal Joseph, MD, FACS University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ INTRODUCTION: Health literacy (HL) is evolving as an impor- tant component of national health policy. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of low health literacy (LHL) and deter- mine its impact on outcomes after emergency general surgery (EGS). METHODS: We performed a 2-year (2016-2017) prospective cohort analysis of all adult patients who underwent EGS. HL was assessed using the short assessment of health literacy (SAHL) score in English/Spanish. LHL was defined as SAHL score < 14. Outcomes measures were the prevalence of LHL, compliance with medications, wound/drain care, 30-day complications, 30- day readmission, and time to resuming activities of daily living. Regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: We prospectively enrolled 225 patients. Mean age was 51  20 years and 62% were male. Overall, 22% of the patients had LHL. LHL patients were more likely to be Hispanic (59% vs 15%, p ¼ 0.01), uninsured (50% vs 20%, p ¼ 0.01), have lower socioeconomic status (80% vs 40%, p ¼ 0.02), and are less likely to have completed college (5% vs 60%, p ¼ 0.01) compared with Table. Patient Outcomes Characteristic Total N¼123 PFC N¼61 Control N¼62 p Value* OR duration a (minutes) 81.0 (39.3) 88.3 (39.4) 75.4 (38.4) 0.063 Hospital length of stay b (days) 0 (0,1) 0 (0,1) 0 (0,0) 0.203 Surgical site occurrence 24 (19.5%) 8 (13.1%) 15 (24 2%) 0.256 Hematoma 3 (2.4%) 0 (0.0%) 3 (4.8%) Seroma 19 (15.4%) 7 (11.5%) 12 (19.4%) Surgical site infection 1 (0.8%) 1 (1.6%) 0 (0.0%) Readmission 7 (5.7%) 4 (6.5%) 3 (4.8%) 0.730 Reoperation 2 (1.6%) 1 (1.6%) 1 (1 .6%) 0.991 Recurrence 8 (6.5%) 6 (9.8%) 2 (3.2%) 0.131 Clinical Eventration 16 (13.0%) 7 (11.5%) 9 (14.5%) 0.616 Follow-up (months) c 24 (9-42) 23 (13-42) 24 (9-42) 0.287 *P-value <0.006 considered significant after Bonferroni correction. a Mean (SD) b Median (IQR) c Median (Range) Control: Bridged Closure, OR: Operating Room, PFC: Primary Fascial Closure Vol. 229, No. 4S1, October 2019 Scientific Forum Abstracts S111