Patterns of immediate post-anesthetic complications and associated factors among patients undergoing major surgery at Bugando Medical Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: The subject of post-anesthetic complications in the recovery room and their prevention has continued to generate interest in the last decade. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of published data regarding this subject in Tanzania and Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in particular. This study sought to describe the patterns of immediate post-anesthetic complications and associated factors among patients admitted to the operating theatre recovery room following major surgery at BMC.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of patients aged 18 years and above admitted to the operating theatre recovery room following major surgery at BMC from March 2019 to May 2019.

Results: A total of 430 patients (M: F ratio = 1: 1.7) were studied. The median age at presentation was 35 [interquartile range, 27-52] years. A total of 294(68.4%) patients developed immediate post-anesthetic complications. Of these, postoperative nausea and vomiting were the most common post-anesthetic complication accounting for 43.5% of cases. American Association of Anesthesiologists (ASA ) II (p = 0.017), general anesthesia (p = 0.011), and abdominal surgery (p = 0.023) were found to be statistically significantly associated with post-anesthetic complications on multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that the incidence of immediate post-anesthetic complications among patients admitted to the operating theatre recovery room following major surgery at BMC is unacceptably high despite recent advances in anesthetic techniques and the introduction of newer anesthetic drugs. We recommend that factors responsible for an increased incidence of immediate post-anesthetic complications at BMC should be addressed to reduce the occurrence of these complications.