Morbidity and Mortality Audit of Paediatric Surgical Emergencies at Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, South East Nigeria

Paediatric surgical emergencies represent a high-stakes subset of surgical practice requiring timely recognition, skilled anaesthesia, and operative expertise often limited in resource-constrained Nigerian settings. This study audits the morbidity and mortality profile of paediatric surgical emergency cases managed at Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, South East Nigeria. A retrospective design is applied to case notes and theatre records of paediatric patients aged 0 to 15 years admitted as surgical emergencies between 2018 and 2022. Data collected include age, diagnosis category, duration of symptoms before presentation, operative procedure, intraoperative complications, postoperative wound status, readmission, and 30-day mortality. SPSS is used for descriptive and comparative analysis. Available paediatric surgery literature from South East Nigeria identifies intussusception, inguinal hernia complications, and intestinal obstruction as the leading emergency diagnoses, with mortality closely linked to the duration of delay before surgical intervention. The American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status Classification guides operative risk stratification in the analysis. Findings will inform the unit's morbidity and mortality committee on preventable causes of death and support arguments for dedicated paediatric surgical and anaesthesia capacity at the hospital. Keywords: paediatric surgical emergencies, morbidity, mortality audit, Enugu, South East Nigeria.