The effect of early warning scoring systems on adverse outcome in surgical patients: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: An early warning scoring system aims to detect clinical deterioration at an early stage and prevent failure-to-rescue in hospitalized patients. In this systematic review we studied the effect of an early warning scoring system on adverse outcome in surgical patients.

METHODS: This review was conducted and reported according to PRISMA and the protocol of this review is registered at PROSPERO, under the registration number CRD42018107799. PubMed, Embase.com, CINAHL (Ebsco) and Wiley/Cochrane Library were searched from inception up to 20-06-2023 for randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies of interventions. Studies were eligible for inclusion if the effect of an early warning scoring system using spot check monitoring was studied.

RESULTS: Eight articles were included, of which two were randomised controlled trials. The overall risk of bias was high. A statistically significant decrease in mortality was seen in three studies. Two studies reported a decrease in cardiopulmonary arrests, and three studies found a decrease in ICU-admissions. There was heterogeneity among studies regarding the types of complications that were reported.

CONCLUSIONS: The evidence in favor of an early warning scoring system to reduce complications and mortality in surgical patients is low, mainly due to a limited number of studies and poor study design. Well-designed trials are needed to investigate whether an early warning scoring system improves outcome in surgical patients.