Development of A Risk Stratification Scoring System to Predict General Surgical Complications in Foot and Ankle Surgery Patients

CATEGORY: Ankle; Ankle Arthritis; Arthroscopy; Basic Sciences/Biologics; Bunion; Diabetes; Hindfoot; Lesser Toes; Midfoot/Forefoot; Sports; Trauma INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Preventing postoperative complications is crucial for patients, surgeons, and healthcare facilities. A risk stratification scoring system was created to help optimize risk factors for general surgical complications in foot and ankle surgery patients. METHODS: A total of 85,363 patients that underwent foot and ankle procedures from 2005 to 2017 were identified as part of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Independent risk factors associated with postoperative complications within 30 days of surgery were identified and used to develop a point-scoring system to estimate the relative risk for experiencing complications. For validation, the system was tested on a subset of patients from the database who had foot and ankle surgery. RESULTS: The 30-day postoperative complication incidence after foot and ankle surgery was 19.1%. Risk factors associated with postoperative complications were tobacco abuse, age (>64), diabetes mellitus, hypertension, elevated creatinine (>1.3 mg/dL), hypoalbuminemia (<3.5 g/dL), and anemia (male hematocrit <42; female <38). Point scores from each factor were: anemia, +7; hypoalbuminemia, +4; hypertension, +4; elevated creatinine, +3; diabetes mellitus, +3; age over 64, +2; and tobacco abuse, +1. In the validation cohort, patients categorized as low risk (0-5), using the point scoring system had a 2.5% rate of 30-day complications; patients categorized as medium risk (6-10) had a 7.5% complication rate (relative risk = 2.0; 95% CI, 1.7-2.3 compared with low risk) and high risk (>=11), 33.1% (relative risk = 3.7; 95% CI, 3.2-4.3). CONCLUSION: This point scoring system predicts risk for general postoperative complications after foot and ankle surgery. These data may help foot and ankle surgeons identify areas of clinical concern with patients to reduce the risk of experiencing postoperative complications.