Identified five key clinical risk factors that can be used in a multivariate equation to predict the probability of postoperative cardiovascular complications in patients undergoing major vascular surgery.
Cardiovascular risk factors in 566 patients with peripheral arterial disease undergoing major vascular operations were analyzed by chi-square analysis. There were 37 postoperative deaths, for a mortality rate of 8.5%. Cardiovascular complications were responsible for 23 deaths (62%). Five risk factors--congestive heart failure, prior myocardial infarction, prior stroke, arrhythmia, and abnormal electrocardiogram--showed significant individual associations with postoperative cardiovascular complications. A multivariate analysis of these five risk factors and angina led to the development of an equation which predicts the probability of a postoperative cardiovascular complication. The number of complications observed corresponded closely to that predicted by the equation. There was a significantly higher incidence of complications in patients predicted to be at high risk than in those at low risk.
Cooperman et al. (Mon,) studied this question.