Introduction: Postoperative morbidity and mortality in intensive care units is a major challenge within the healthcare systems of resource-limited countries. In Kinshasa, the Provincial General Referral Hospital manages a considerable number of patients requiring intensive care following surgery. This study aims to evaluate the postoperative mortality rate and identify associated risk factors.

Methods: A retrospective correlational study was conducted on 75 patients who underwent surgery and were admitted to the intensive care unit between January and June 2019. Data were extracted from medical records and analyzed using SPSS software. The chi-square test was used to examine the associations between surgical variables and patient clinical outcomes, with a significance level set at 5%.

Results: The overall mortality rate was 70.6%. The predominant complications included acute renal failure (24%), cardiorespiratory arrest (21.3%), and septic shock (16%). A statistically significant association was observed between the clinical outcome and several variables: surgical indication (p = 0.000), surgical modality (p = 0.009), type of anesthesia (p = 0.001), and type of surgery (p = 0.002). In contrast, the ASA score did not show a significant correlation with mortality (p = 0.119).

Conclusion: These results highlight the crucial influence of operative and anesthetic conditions on patient survival in intensive care. It is therefore imperative to improve perioperative management to reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality in this setting.