• Duminda N Wijeysundera, W Scott Beattie, Peter C Austin, Janet E Hux, and Andreas Laupacis.
• Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada. d.wijeysundera@utoronto.ca
• BMJ. 2010 Jan 1;340:b5526.

ObjectiveTo determine the association of non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective intermediate to high risk non-cardiac surgery with survival and hospital stay.DesignPopulation based retrospective cohort study.SettingAcute care hospitals in Ontario, Canada, between 1 April 1994 and 31 March 2004.ParticipantsPatients aged 40 years or older who underwent specific elective intermediate to high risk non-cardiac surgical procedures.InterventionsNon-invasive cardiac stress testing performed within six months before surgery.Main Outcome MeasuresPostoperative one year survival and length of stay in hospital.ResultsOf the 271 082 patients in the entire cohort, 23 991 (8.9%) underwent stress testing. After propensity score methods were used to reduce important differences between patients who did or did not undergo preoperative stress testing and assemble a matched cohort (n=46 120), testing was associated with improved one year survival (hazard ratio (HR) 0.92, 95% CI 0.86 to 0.99; P=0.03) and reduced mean hospital stay (difference -0.24 days, 95% CI -0.07 to -0.43; P<0.001). In an analysis of subgroups defined by Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI) class, testing was associated with harm in low risk patients (RCRI 0 points: HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.74), but with benefit in patients who were at intermediate risk (RCRI 1-2 points: 0.92, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.99) or high risk (RCRI 3-6 points: 0.80, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.97).ConclusionsPreoperative non-invasive cardiac stress testing is associated with improved one year survival and length of hospital stay in patients undergoing elective intermediate to high risk non-cardiac surgery. These benefits principally apply to patients with risk factors for perioperative cardiac complications.

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