Outcomes of near-miss/adverse perioperative events during elective and emergency non-cardiac surgeries that required unplanned admissions to the intensive care unit of a tertiary care center: a retrospective cohort study

Background The near-miss/adverse events during elective and emergency non-cardiac surgeries requiring unplanned admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) during the perioperative period are not known. Patients undergoing elective and emergency (E) noncardiac surgeries classified according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (ASA PS) (I–IV) were studied. Results From 01 January 2019 to 31 December 2020, 6584 patients above 18 years underwent non-cardiac surgeries at a tertiary care center in eastern India, of which 87.3% ( n = 5754) were elective surgical cases, and 12.5% ( n = 826) were emergency surgeries. 0.98% of the patients ( n = 65) (26 men and 39 females) had serious adverse/near-miss events requiring unplanned admission to the ICU, of these, 50.7% ( n = 33) were elective cases, in ASA PS I 12.3% ( n = 8), ASA II 27.6% ( n = 18) ASA III 9.2% ( n = 6) and ASA IV 1.53% ( n = 1) respectively and 49.3% ( n = 32) were emergency cases in ASA PS I (E) 13.8% ( n = 9) (13.8%), ASA II (E) 26.1% ( n = 17), ASA III(E) 4.6% ( n = 3) and ASA IV(E) 4.6% ( n = 3) respectively. Near miss events were mainly due to (a) cardiac-related events seen in 37.5% ( n = 25) patients, (b) hemorrhage seen in 25% ( n = 16), and (c) airway-related issues seen in 16.1% ( n = 11) patients respectively. The adverse events were mainly due to drug-related errors in 21.4% ( n = 13) patients. 13.84% ( n = 9) patients had died and 86.16% ( n = 56) had survived due to the availability of critical care services. Emergency surgeries 25% (8 out of 32 patients) had a higher mortality rate due to adverse/near-miss events compared to elective surgeries which were 3.03% (1 out of 33 cases) respectively. Conclusions Emergency non-cardiac surgeries were associated with higher rates of adverse/near-miss events. Early recognition and prompt management of critical adverse events during intraoperative and postoperative periods with the help of critical care facilities may improve clinical outcomes.