{"doi":"10.15537/1658-3175.4627","title":"Impact of comorbidity on outcome among acute non-traumatic surgical patients. Evaluation of Charlson comorbidity index.","abstract":"<jats:p>OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of comorbid conditions among acute non-traumatic general surgery patients. To assess the impact of comorbidity on outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of using Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) in these patients. METHODS: All acute non-traumatic general surgery patients admitted to King Saud Medical Complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 were included (n=1296). Patient data were explored to record comorbidity, and the CCI score calculated. The length of hospital stay, post-operative complications and mortality were recorded as outcome measures. The outcomes in patients with comorbid conditions were compared with patients without comorbid conditions. RESULTS: We found one or more comorbid conditions in 31.9% (n=414) patients. The CCI score ranged from 1-8. All 3 outcome measures were recorded significantly higher in patients with comorbidity compared to patients with no comorbid condition; length of stay, 17.3 versus 10.6 days (p&lt;0.0001), post-operative complications 46.3% versus 31% (p&lt;0.0001), mortality 7.7% versus 4.4% (p&lt;0.0001). Severe comorbidity as indicated by higher CCI score significantly correlated with length of stay, r=0.30 (p&lt;0.0001) and mortality, r=0.2645 (p&lt;0.0001). Overall risk of mortality was 1.81 times higher with comorbidity (odds ratio 1.81, 95% confidence interval 1.087-3.012, p=0.0182). CONCLUSION: Comorbidity caused increased hospital stay, post-operative complications, and mortality among acute non-traumatic general surgery patients. The CCI is a reliable comorbidity index, which can help in managing risks in surgical patients.</jats:p>","journal":"Saudi Medical Journal","year":2009,"id":595778,"datarank":0.41588830833596724,"base_score":2.772588722239781,"endowment":2.772588722239781,"self_citation_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":15,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1525767,"name":"Saleh M. Al-Salamah","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":191194,"name":"Muhammad Abdullah","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Impact of comorbidity on outcome among acute non-traumatic surgical patients. Evaluation of Charlson comorbidity index.","abstract":"<jats:p>OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of comorbid conditions among acute non-traumatic general surgery patients. To assess the impact of comorbidity on outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of using Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) in these patients. METHODS: All acute non-traumatic general surgery patients admitted to King Saud Medical Complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 were included (n=1296). Patient data were explored to record comorbidity, and the CCI score calculated. The length of hospital stay, post-operative complications and mortality were recorded as outcome measures. The outcomes in patients with comorbid conditions were compared with patients without comorbid conditions. RESULTS: We found one or more comorbid conditions in 31.9% (n=414) patients. The CCI score ranged from 1-8. All 3 outcome measures were recorded significantly higher in patients with comorbidity compared to patients with no comorbid condition; length of stay, 17.3 versus 10.6 days (p&lt;0.0001), post-operative complications 46.3% versus 31% (p&lt;0.0001), mortality 7.7% versus 4.4% (p&lt;0.0001). Severe comorbidity as indicated by higher CCI score significantly correlated with length of stay, r=0.30 (p&lt;0.0001) and mortality, r=0.2645 (p&lt;0.0001). Overall risk of mortality was 1.81 times higher with comorbidity (odds ratio 1.81, 95% confidence interval 1.087-3.012, p=0.0182). CONCLUSION: Comorbidity caused increased hospital stay, post-operative complications, and mortality among acute non-traumatic general surgery patients. The CCI is a reliable comorbidity index, which can help in managing risks in surgical patients.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"19198711","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":null,"license":null,"oa_locations":[],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Treatment Outcome","Length of Stay","Surgical Procedures, Operative","Retrospective Studies","Comorbidity","Time Factors","Adolescent","Adult","Aged","Aged, 80 and over","Middle Aged"],"keywords":[],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-27T17:53:14.015322Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}