Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 27:41:33-39.
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2019.03.007. eCollection 2019 May.

Validation of POSSUM, P-POSSUM and the surgical risk scale in major general surgical operations in Harare: A prospective observational study

Allan Ngulube  1 , Godfrey I Muguti  1 , Edwin G Muguti  1
Affiliations

Validation of POSSUM, P-POSSUM and the surgical risk scale in major general surgical operations in Harare: A prospective observational study

Allan Ngulube et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

Background: Raw mortality and morbidity, though commonly studied in surgical audit can nonetheless be misleading because of differences in preoperative and intraoperative findings of patients. There are some common scoring systems specifically designed to cater for case mix but these have not been tried locally. This study sought to validate these scoring systems and hopefully adopt them for our teaching hospitals.

Materials and methods: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted at two central hospitals in Harare Two hundred and two patients undergoing a variety of major general surgical operations were recruited into the study. Results of physiological and intraoperative parameters collected from the patients' records were scored according to POSSUM, P-POSSUM and SRS scores. Predicted mortality and morbidity rates of all these subjects were then compared to the observed rates.

Results: One hundred and eighty one patients participated (123 males, 58 females). Using the POSSUM morbidity score, the observed versus expected (O: E) ratio of 0.88 showed no difference (p = 0.970). Using POSSUM, P-POSSUM and SRS mortality scores, O: E ratios of 0.74, 1.06 and 1.0 respectively were obtained, the differences were not significant (p = 0.650, p = 0.987 and 0.730). All three scores were comparable on the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve. The Physiological score independently predicted mortality (p < 0.00001).

Conclusion: POSSUM, P-POSSUM and SRS scores are comparable and suitable for estimating outcomes after major surgery in Harare. A larger study inclusive of low risk patients is needed to generalise these findings across Zimbabwean patients.

Keywords: ASA, American Society of Anesthesiologists; Audit; P-POSSUM, Portsmouth-POSSUM; POSSUM; POSSUM, Physiological and Operative Severity Scoring for the enUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity; Risk scoring system; SRS, Surgical Risk Scale.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Attending clinician's characteristics.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Distribution of preoperative physiological score.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Receiving Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) for POSSUM, P-POSSUM and SRS scores.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Surgical Audit and Peer Review . vol. 3. 2008. A Guide by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; pp. 2–46.www.surgeons.org/publications
    1. Ghaferi A.A., Birkmeyer J.D., Dimick J.B. Variation in hospital mortality associated with inpatient surgery. N. Engl. J. Med. 2009;361:1368–1375. - PubMed
    1. Copeland G.P., Jones D., Walters M. POSSUM: a scoring system for surgical audit. Br. J. Surg. 1991;78:355–360. - PubMed
    1. Whiteley M.S., Prytherch D.R., Higgins B., Weaver P.C., Prout W.G. An evaluation of the POSSUM surgical scoring system. Br. J. Surg. 1996;83:812–815. - PubMed
    1. Prytherch D.R., Whiteley M.S., H B. POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality. Physiological and operative severity score for the enUmeration of mortality and morbidity. Br. J. Surg. 1998;85(9):1217–1220. - PubMed