Skip to main content

Table 6 American Society of Anesthesiology Physical Status (ASA-PS) Classification System.

From: The Utstein template for uniform reporting of data following major trauma: A joint revision by SCANTEM, TARN, DGU-TR and RITG

ASA-PS 1

A normal healthy patient.

Guidelines:

No organic, physiologic, biochemical or psychiatric disturbance. Any disorder is localized, without systemic effects. Smoking <5 cigarettes/day.

Example:

Healthy non-smoker, admitted for varicose vein operation.

ASA-PS 2

A patient with mild systemic disease.

Guidelines:

Present pathology might imply specific measures or anaesthesia related precautions. The disturbance(s) might be caused by the condition to be surgically treated or by another pathologic process. Smoking >5 cigarettes/day.

Examples:

Mild organic heart disease. Uncomplicated diabetes mellitus (type 1 or 2).

Benign hypertension without complications. Healthy patient with trismus.

ASA-PS 3

A patient with severe systemic disease.

Examples:

Diabetes mellitus with organ complications. Disabling heart disease. Moderate to severe respiratory disease. Angina pectoris. Myocardial infarction >6 months ago.

ASA-PS 4

A patient with severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life.

Guidelines:

The disease is not necessarily related to the condition to be surgically treated, neither is it necessarily improved by the surgical intervention per se.

Examples:

Malignant hypertension. Myocardial infarction <6 months ago. Severe liver, kidney, respiratory, or endocrine dysfunction. Manifest cardiac failure. Unstable angina pectoris. Subarachnoid haemorrhage – patient awake or somnolent.

ASA-PS 5

A moribund patient who is not expected to survive without the operation.

Examples:

Patient in circulatory shock because of ruptured aortic aneurysm. Deeply comatose patient with intracranial haemorrhage.

ASA-PS 6

A declared brain-dead patient whose organs are being removed for donor purposes.

  1. The six ASA-PS headings are from the American Society of Anaesthesiologists [65]. The guidelines and examples were translated from the Norwegian edition [66] by Skaga et al. [6].
  2. For the Utstein Template, the ASA-PS classification system should solely be used to categorise pre-injury comorbidity. Derangements resulting from the injury should not be considered.