Evaluation of surgical Apgar score as a predictor of postoperative complications in emergency general surgical patients in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of the surgical Apgar score (SAS) to predict post-operative complications at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods: This was a retrospective study of adult patients undergoing emergency general surgery procedures. The main end-points were post-operative mortality and surgical site infection (SSI). The ability of the SAS to predict post-operative outcomes was determined using the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC). Statistical significance was defined by a p value of less than 0.05. Results: The mean SAS was 5.6 ± 1.7 with majority of patients (61.4%, n = 70) being at medium risk (Apgar score 5–7) for post-operative complication. The most common post-operative complication was SSI (47.1%, n = 25) with a 30-day mortality of 9.6%. The ROC curve showed that the SAS is a poor predictor of post-operative complications (Area under the curve [AUC] = 0.408) and mortality (AUC = 0.394). However, there is a statistically significant association between mean SAS and occurrence of post-operative complications (p = 0.026). Conclusion: The SAS does not predict post-operative complications in adult patients undergoing emergency general surgery procedures.