Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Reliability of the Pediatric‐Specific American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status ( ASA ‐ PS ) Classification System
Authors' conclusion
Moderate inter-rater variability exists in the assignment of ASA-PS scores in the pediatric population, and many patients are being underscored.
Study context
- Population
- Pediatric patients at a quaternary pediatric hospital
- Participants
- 364 patients
- Exposure
- Case anesthetist vs Independent anesthetists
- Outcome
- Inter-rater reliability (concordance) of ASA-PS scores
Methodological detailssingle-centre
- Single-centre
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Concordance of ASA-PS scores (weighted kappa)
Between the two independent anesthetists (strong concordance), weighted kappa
0.76
Between case anesthetist and independent anesthetists (moderate concordance), weighted kappa
0.5
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Discordant scores
- Where discrepant, the case anesthetist usually underscored American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA-PS) by 1 point
- Symptomatic cardiac disease, abnormal BMI for age, oncologic state, brain malformation or difficult airway more likely assigned an incorrect ASA-PS score
Original publication
Reliability of the Pediatric‐Specific American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status ( ASA ‐ PS ) Classification System. Paediatr Anaesth. Published 8 January 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →