Evaluation of the utility of the Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress score for predicting post-operative morbidity after orthopaedic surgery

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of the Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system for predicting post-operative morbidity. Methods We included 1,883 patients (mean age, 52.1 years) who underwent orthopaedic surgery. The post-operative complications were classified as surgical site and non-surgical site complications, and the relationship between the E-PASS scores and post-operative morbidity was investigated. Results The incidence of post-operative complications ( n = 274) significantly increased with an increase in E-PASS scores ( p < 0.001). The areas under the curve for the comprehensive risk score of the E-PASS scoring system for overall and non-surgical site complications were 0.777 and 0.794, respectively. Conclusions The E-PASS scoring system showed some utility in predicting post-operative morbidity after general orthopaedic surgery. However, creating a new risk score that is more suitable for orthopaedic surgery will be challenging.