Perceptions of surgical complication severity among patients: a comparison with the accordion severity grading system in Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to measure participants’ view regarding the severity of post-operative surgical complications and to assess if factors like their age, sex, or past surgical experiences shape those opinions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an adapted, validated online questionnaire on adults (aged 18 or older) in the Makkah Region of Saudi Arabia who had a surgical history. After excluding non-consenting participants and participants without a surgical history. A total of 455 adults participated and rated 21 hypothetical complications from the Accordion Severity Grading System. These scenarios were scored on a scale from 0 (no problem at all) to 100 (equivalent to death). Results: In current study, females made up 57.8% of the participants, and about a third (34.9%) were aged between 18 and 29 years. Just over half of the participants (52.7%) had undergone a surgical procedure in the previous year, of whom 36.5% experienced postoperative complications. Participants’ surgical history was strongly associated with their assessment of complication severity. It was also found that age and sex changed how people viewed these issues. There was also a noticeable split between men and women, for instance, 41% of males felt spontaneous wound healing was not an issue at all, compared to just 25% of females. Conclusion: The data indicated that factors such as age, gender, and previous surgical experience influence patients’ perception of complication severity. This variance highlighted a clear gap in health literacy, which can easily cause patients to either overestimate or minimize their medical situations.