Evaluation of POSSUM and P-POSSUM as predictors of mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing laparotomy at a referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The Physiological and Operative Severity Score for enumeration of Morbidity and Mortality (POSSUM) and its Portsmouth modification (P-POSSUM) were developed for comparative audit in surgical patients. This study evaluated applicability of these systems in estimating mortality and morbidity risks in a cohort of patients undergoing laparotomy at the national referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya Our results support the suitability of P-POSSUM and POSSUM scoring systems to stratify morbidity and mortality risk in our study population