CLINICS 2008;63(2):151-6 CLINICAL SCIENCE PROGNOSTIC FACTORS FOR MORTALITY AMONG PATIENTS ABOVE THE 6TH DECADE UNDERGOING NON-CARDIAC SURGERY: (CARES – CLINICAL ASSESSMENT AND RESEARCH IN ELDERLY SURGICAL PATIENTS)

undergoing non-cardiac surgery: (cares – clinical assessment and research in elderly surgical patients). Clinics. 2008;63:151-6. PURPOSE: To ascertain perioperative morbimortality and identify prognostic factors for mortality among patients q55 years who undergo non-cardiac surgery. METHODS: A retrospective cohort of 403 patients relating to perioperative morbidity-mortality. Data were collected from a standardized protocol on gender, age, comorbidities, medications used, smoking, alcohol abuse, chronic use of benzodiazepine, nutritional status, presence of anemia, activities of daily living, American Society of Anesthesiology classification, Detsky´s modi-fied cardiac risk index- American College of Physicians, renal function evaluation, pulmonary risk according to the Torrington scale, risk of thromboembolic events, presence of malignant disease and complementary examinations. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 70.8 ± 8.1 years. The “very old ” (q80 years) represented 14%. The mortality rate was 8.2%, and the complication rate was 15.8%. Multiple logistic regression showed that a history of coronary heart disease (OR: 3.75; p=0.02) and/or valvular heart disease (OR: 31.79; p=0.006) were predictors of mortality. The American Society of Anesthesiology classification was shown to be the best scale to mark risk (OR: 3.01; p=0.016). Nutritional status was a protective factor, in which serum albumin increases of 1 mg/dl decreased risk by 63%. DISCUSSION: The results indicate that serum albumin, coronary heart disease, valvular heart disease and the American Society of Anesthesiology classification could be prognostic predictors for aged patients in a perioperative setting. In this sample, provide