Over the study period, all consecutive patients consulting respiratory physicians to evaluate the risk of PPCs before surgery were included, and the PPC-related variables of each patient were registered prospectively. The patients were not included in this study with 1) aged younger than 18 years; 2) pulmonary related surgery; and 3) obstetric surgery or any procedure during pregnancy and the patients with organ transplantation were excluded.
Data collection was performed prospectively by respiratory physicians at the time of consultation about the risk of PPCs. The following information was collected: data related to the patient (age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol habits, airflow limitation, comorbidities such as congestive heart failure (CHF), mental status, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification, serum albumin, serum hemoglobin, and chest radiograph findings) and the surgical operation (type of anesthesia, elective or emergency surgery, and surgical site and specialty), which are identified in the ACP guidelines as PPC-related variables in patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic surgery. The presence of airflow limitation was defined as the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) <0.7 and FEV1 <80% of predicted value.
The main outcome, PPCs, consisted of in-hospital postoperative events related to the respiratory system, such as respiratory infection, respiratory failure, pleural effusion, atelectasis, pneumothorax, and bronchospasm within the first 7 postoperative days. The details of the definitions of PPCs have been published elsewhere [7] (link).
Data collection was performed prospectively by respiratory physicians at the time of consultation about the risk of PPCs. The following information was collected: data related to the patient (age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol habits, airflow limitation, comorbidities such as congestive heart failure (CHF), mental status, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification, serum albumin, serum hemoglobin, and chest radiograph findings) and the surgical operation (type of anesthesia, elective or emergency surgery, and surgical site and specialty), which are identified in the ACP guidelines as PPC-related variables in patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic surgery. The presence of airflow limitation was defined as the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) <0.7 and FEV1 <80% of predicted value.
The main outcome, PPCs, consisted of in-hospital postoperative events related to the respiratory system, such as respiratory infection, respiratory failure, pleural effusion, atelectasis, pneumothorax, and bronchospasm within the first 7 postoperative days. The details of the definitions of PPCs have been published elsewhere [7] (link).
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