Development of a nomogram for prediction of postoperative sore throat in patients under general anaesthesia: a single-centre, prospective, observational study

OBJECTIVES: Postoperative sore throat (POST) is very common in patients under general anaesthesia. However, there is no effective clinical predictive model for reducing its occurrence. The objective of this study was to estimate the risk factors for POST in patients after general anaesthesia by designing a nomogram. DESIGN: A prospective study. SETTING: This study was conducted in a large tertiary hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients aged 18–85 years old who received general anaesthesia with either an endotracheal tube or supraglottic airway and of American Society of Anesthesiologists classification level Ⅰ–III. RESULTS: A total of 442 patients were enrolled in this study, with a POST incidence of 44.1%. The results showed that younger age (≤55 years), surgical site (head and neck surgery), duration of anaesthesia (≥4 hours) and history of chronic pharyngitis were independent risk factors for POST in general anaesthesia patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calibration curves were used to evaluate the nomogram. The area under the ROC curve was 0.784 and the C-index was 0.779. CONCLUSION: A nomogram combining age, surgical site, duration of anaesthesia and history of chronic pharyngitis is potentially useful in predicting POST under general anaesthesia. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR-ROC-17013258; Post-results.