SurgWeek-2: Identifying the Global Burden of Post Operative Complications: an International Prospective Cohort Study Protocol

NCT07785076 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 156087
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 100,000
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

This study aims to assess and improve the global outcomes following surgery. Every year approximately 313 million operations are performed, with 50 million people experiencing a complication and unfortunately 3.5 million people will die following these operations. This study will assess how outcomes vary following surgery throughout the world and explore system access, quality and efficiency. The secondary aims of this study are to (1) assess the use of antibiotics and the impact of resistant organisms globally, (2) assess who dies after an operation and whether there are factors that were identified that could have prevented the death, (3) assess the assess and outcomes to minimally invasive and robotic surgery, (4) assess the outcomes of the Bellwether procedures (laparotomy, caesarean delivery, open fracture management) as these are conditions used to assess the functioning of a health system. The study will take place for six week in May-June 2026 and will aim to collect data from 100,000 patients across 1000 hospitals in 100 countries to give a global perspective on the above outcome measures. The data will be analysed by hospital income group to understand how resources impact on outcomes. By combining global data on clinical outcomes with information on hospital resources, this study hopes to provide valuable insights into how to improve surgical care across diverse settings, making recommendations that lead to better access to safe, timely and affordable care for surgical problems worldwide.

Conditions

Surgery Complications; Surgery; Global Surgery; Robotic; Caesarean Section; Open Fracture; Antimicrobial; Mortality; Bellwether; Laparotomy; Minimally Invasive Surgery

Keywords

Complications; mortality; Laparotomy; Caesarean Delivery/Section; Open fracture; Antimicrobial use; Robotic surgery; Minimally invasive surgery

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Global variation in post operative complications.

  The primary aim of SurgWeek-2 is to assess the global burden and variation of postoperative complications. We will determine the frequency of postoperative complications across low-, middle- and high-income countries, further stratifying by age, sex, and surgical speciality.

  30 days

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Global variation in postoperative infective complication and antimicrobial resistance rates.

  30 days

• Global variation in postoperative mortality rates and underlying reasons for postoperative mortality.

  30 days

• Global variation in access to and outcomes associated with minimally invasive and robotic surgery.

  30 days

• Global variation in the outcomes of the Bellwether procedures (laparotomy, caesarean delivery and open fracture management)

  30 days

• 30-day Clavien-Dindo complication grade.

  30 days

Study Arms (1)

Patients undergoing surgery

Patients undergoing surgery

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All consecutive patients undergoing surgery

You may qualify if:

• All surgical specialties can participate including acute care surgery, breast surgery, cardiac surgery, colorectal surgery, general surgery, gynaecology, hepatobiliary surgery, neurosurgery, obstetrics, oesophagogastric surgery, ophthalmology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthopaedics, otolaryngology, paediatric surgery, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, transplant surgery, trauma surgery, urology and vascular surgery.
• Patients undergoing both day case surgery and inpatient surgery should be included.

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who do not undergo an operation (e.g. planned operations that are cancelled).
• Patients undergoing angiography or minor procedures.
• Procedures performed outside of an operating theatre
• Individual participating centres can choose to include children only, adults only, or both children and adults. If including children or adults only, an age cut off should be selected that is appropriate to the local context.
• Each individual patient should only be included in the study once, based on the first operation they undergo within the data capture window. Therefore, patients who are re-operated within 30-days should only be entered once.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Birmingham: lead

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Fractures, Open

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Fractures, Bone; Wounds and Injuries

Central Study Contacts

Liam N Phelan

CONTACT

00447816774368; lxp417@student.bham.ac.uk

Rachel Lillywhite

CONTACT

r.e.lillywhite@bham.ac.uk

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Target Duration: 30 Days
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 20, 2026
• First Posted: August 25, 2026
• Study Start: August 31, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2027
• Last Updated: August 25, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share