ArticlePerioperative medicine (London, England)2025
Performance of the early warning system score in predicting postoperative complications in older versus younger patients.
Article in Perioperative medicine (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Predictive performance of an extended NEWS model for acute deterioration in general ward inpatients: a retrospective observational study.Journal of Korean biological nursing science · 2026Article
- One Score Fits All? A Narrative Review on Early Warning Scores for Older Adults in the Emergency Department in the Era of Personalized Medicine.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEarly warning system (EWS) scores are implemented on surgical wards to identify patients at high risk of postoperative clinical deterioration, but its predictive value in older patients is unclear. This study assessed the prognostic value of EWS scores to predict severe postoperative complications in older patients compared to younger patients.
methodsThis study utilized data from the TRACE study. EWS scores were routinely measured on postoperative days one (POD1) and three (POD3). The cohort was divided by age: < 70 years and ≥ 70 years. Performance measures of EWS scores on POD1 and POD3 were assessed to predict severe postoperative complications. Missed event rates (proportion of events not detected by the EWS threshold) and nonevent rates (proportion of EWS values above the threshold without an adverse event) were calculated.
resultsAmong 4866 patients, 39.3% were ≥ 70 years old. Severe complications occurred in 6.1% of older compared to 5.8% of younger patients (P = 0.658). EWS scores on POD1 and POD3 did not differ between age groups. For severe complications, EWS showed moderate discrimination in both older (POD1: C-statistic 0.65 (95%CI 0.59-0.70); POD3: 0.63 (95%CI 0.57-0.69)) and younger patients (POD1: 0.68 (95%CI 0.65-0.72); POD3: 0.65 (95%CI 0.61-0.70)). Overall, calibration was good. For EWS score ≥ 3, the missed event rate was at least 69% and nonevent rate 75%.
conclusionsPredicted performance of the EWS score was moderate among older and younger patients. A limitation of the EWS score is the high rate of missed events and nonevents.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.