Anaesthetics

Apfel Score (PONV)

Risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting.

Education and reference only. Not a substitute for clinical judgement, local policy or product labelling. Always verify before clinical use. Values are calculated in your browser and never stored.

When to use

Use before surgery to estimate the risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting and guide prophylaxis.

Why use

It targets antiemetic prophylaxis to those most likely to benefit.

Advice

Each risk factor adds roughly 20% absolute risk (≈10/20/40/60/80% for 0–4 factors). Use to guide multimodal antiemetic prophylaxis.

Evidence & references

Apfel CC et al. A simplified risk score for predicting postoperative nausea and vomiting. Anesthesiology. 1999.

About the creator

Apfel CC et al.

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