Intraoperative complexity markers are associated with morbidity but not mortality in emergency abdominal surgery: a two-year cohort study

Intraoperative complexity is frequent in major emergency abdominal surgery and is closely associated with postoperative morbidity and healthcare utilization. Bleeding exceeding 750 mL and operative time over 2.5 were the strongest associations with postoperative morbidity. These findings provide a pragmatic framework for quantifying surgical complexity and may inform future work on preoperative risk stratification and resource planning. The observed dissociation between morbidity and mortality may reflect improved perioperative care and patient selection, but should be interpreted cautiously given the limited number of deaths.