The Emergency surgery score (ESS) accurately predicts outcomes of emergency surgical admissions at a Saudi academic health center.

Background: The emergency surgery score (ESS) has emerged as a tool to predict outcomes in emergency surgery (EGS) patients. Our study examines the ability of ESS to predict outcomes in EGS admissions.

Methods: All EGS admissions to King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC) from January 2017 to October 2019 were included. ESS was calculated for each patient. Correlations between ESS and 30-day mortality and complications were evaluated.

Results: 1607 patients were included. 30-day mortality rate was 2.2% while complication rate was 18.7%. Mortality increased as ESS increased, from 0.3% for ESS≤2, to 30.1% for ESS >10, with a c-statistic of 0.88. Complication rates were 2.2%, 40%, and 100% at ESS of 0, 6, and 15, respectively, with a c-statistic of 0.82.

Conclusions: ESS accurately predicted outcomes at our tertiary center. ESS could be useful in identifying high risk EGS admissions and in benchmarking quality of care across Saudi institutions.