Predictors of morbidity and mortality post emergency abdominal surgery: A national study

Emergency surgeries have increased in Saudi Arabia. This study examines these surgeries and associated complications.

This was a prospective multicenter cohort study of patients undergoing emergency intraperitoneal surgery from the eight health sectors of Saudi Arabia. Patients' data were collected over 14 days.

In total, 283 patients were included (163 men [54.06%]). The majority of cases were open surgery (204 vs. 79). The 24 h and 30-day mortality rates for the cohort were 0.7 and 2.47%, respectively. Twenty-nine patients (10.24%) required re-intervention, while 19 (8.12%) needed critical care admission. The median length of hospital stay was 3 days. Multivariate analysis showed American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) classification score (P = 0.0003), diagnosis (P < 0.0001), stoma formation (P = 0.0123), and anastomotic leak (P = 0.0015) to correlate significantly with 30-day mortality.

American Society of Anesthesiologist score, diagnosis, stoma formation and anastomotic leak are associated with 30-day mortality after emergency surgery in Saudi Arabia.