Differential surgical outcome in Federal Medical Centre Owerri, Nigeria

Background: Global understanding of surgical outcome is still limited, with data lacking in some areas of the world. Global studies most times are dominated by data sourced from high income and developed countries.
Aim: This study is aimed at evaluating the differential surgical outcomes in a Health Institution in Nigeria, to help understand how patients develop postoperative complications and the severity of such complications.
Methods: We recruited 200 patients that were booked for elective or emergency in-hospital or day case surgery. The patients were followed up for maximum of 30 days postoperatively. Perioperative outcomes were evaluated.
Results: The majority of the participants were in ASA II class (46%), while the others were in class ASA III (31%), ASA I (20%) and ASA IV (3%). There were 35% participants that had intraoperative complication, while 29% had postoperative complication. The rate of ICU admission was 5%, while the duration of postoperative ICU and hospital stay were 1.7±0.90 days and 13.28±2.97 days respectively. Surgical related mortality rate was 3%.
Conclusion: The findings show that despite the high intraoperative complication rate of 35%, postoperative complication rate of 29% and critical care admission rate of 5%, mortality rate (3%) was the same with other global studies.