Abstract
BACKGROUND: Stratifying risk of postoperative pulmonary complications after major abdominal surgery allows clinicians to modify risk through targeted interventions and enhanced monitoring. In this study, we aimed to identify and validate prognostic models against a new consensus definition of postoperative pulmonary complications.
METHODS: We did a systematic review and international external validation cohort study. The systematic review was done in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched MEDLINE and Embase on March 1, 2020, for articles published in English that reported on risk prediction models for postoperative pulmonary complications following abdominal surgery. External validation of existing models was done within a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥18 years) undergoing major abdominal surgery. Data were collected between Jan 1, 2019, and April 30, 2019, in the UK, Ireland, and Australia. Discriminative ability and prognostic accuracy summary statistics were compared between models for the 30-day postoperative pulmonary complication rate as defined by the Standardised Endpoints in Perioperative Medicine Core Outcome Measures in Perioperative and Anaesthetic Care (StEP-COMPAC). Model performance was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROCC).
FINDINGS: In total, we identified 2903 records from our literature search; of which, 2514 (86·6%) unique records were screened, 121 (4·8%) of 2514 full texts were assessed for eligibility, and 29 unique prognostic models were identified. Nine (31·0%) of 29 models had score development reported only, 19 (65·5%) had undergone internal validation, and only four (13·8%) had been externally validated. Data to validate six eligible models were collected in the international external validation cohort study. Data from 11 591 patients were available, with an overall postoperative pulmonary complication rate of 7·8% (n=903). None of the six models showed good discrimination (defined as AUROCC ≥0·70) for identifying postoperative pulmonary complications, with the Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia score showing the best discrimination (AUROCC 0·700 [95% CI 0·683-0·717]).
INTERPRETATION: In the pre-COVID-19 pandemic data, variability in the risk of pulmonary complications (StEP-COMPAC definition) following major abdominal surgery was poorly described by existing prognostication tools. To improve surgical safety during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and beyond, novel risk stratification tools are required.
FUNDING: British Journal of Surgery Society.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | e520-e531 |
Journal | The Lancet Digital Health |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 21 Jun 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:RP has previously received research grants from Intersurgical. All other authors declare no competing interests.
Funding Information:
This study was funded through support from the British Journal of Surgery Society. This study has been presented at four meetings to date: Association of Surgeons in Training Surgical Summit, National Research Collaborative Meeting 2020, Surgical Research Society 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting, and Surgical Research Society of Southern Africa 48th Surgical Research Society Meeting.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
Keywords
- Adult
- COVID-19
- Cohort Studies
- Humans
- Pandemics
- Postoperative Complications/epidemiology
- Prognosis
- Prospective Studies