Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Abnormal vital signs during recovery from noncardiac surgery on general wards: A blinded prospective observational study
Authors' conclusion
Abnormal vital signs were common in patients recovering from noncardiac surgery on general wards. Hypoxaemia and bradypnoea were the most common vital sign abnormalities.
Study context
- Population
- Adults recovering from noncardiac surgery on general wards, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
- Participants
- 190 adults
- Outcome
- Percentage of monitoring time with any abnormal vital sign (SpO2 ≤91%, respiratory rate ≤8 or ≥25 breaths per min, SBP ≤90 or ≥220 mmHg, or pulse rate ≤40 or ≥131 beats per min)
- Follow-up
- Up to 5 postoperative days
Methodological detailssingle-centre, automated blinded continuous monitoring (wearable device)
- Single-centre
- Automated blinded continuous monitoring (wearable device)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Percentage of monitoring time with any abnormal vital sign
Median [IQR] percentage of monitoring time with any abnormal vital sign
6 [3 to 12]%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Cumulative time with any abnormal vital sign
- Median [IQR] cumulative time with any abnormal vital sign
- 155 [58 to 375] min
Any abnormal vital sign for ≥15 continuous min
- Patients with any abnormal vital sign for ≥15 continuous min
- 74 (39%)
Hypoxaemia
- Median [IQR] cumulative time of hypoxaemia
- 33 [7 to 123] min
- Patients with hypoxaemia for ≥15 continuous min
- 59 (31%)
- Most frequently observed abnormality, with bradypnoea
Bradypnoea
- Median [IQR] cumulative time of bradypnoea
- 62 [17 to 159] min
- Patients with bradypnoea for ≥15 continuous min
- 19 (10%)
Other vital sign abnormalities
- Other vital sign abnormalities were rare
Original publication
Abnormal vital signs during recovery from noncardiac surgery on general wards: A blinded prospective observational study. Eur J Anaesthesiol. Published 30 April 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →