• Duminda N Wijeysundera, Rupert M Pearse, Mark A Shulman, AbbottTom E FTEFQueen Mary University of London, London, UK., Elizabeth Torres, Althea Ambosta, Bernard L Croal, John T Granton, Kevin E Thorpe, GrocottMichael P WMPWUniversity Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK; University of Southampton, Southampton, UK., Catherine Farrington, Paul S Myles, Brian H Cuthbertson, and METS study investigators.
• Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
• Lancet. 2018 Jun 30; 391 (10140): 263126402631-2640.

BackgroundFunctional capacity is an important component of risk assessment for major surgery. Doctors' clinical subjective assessment of patients' functional capacity has uncertain accuracy. We did a study to compare preoperative subjective assessment with alternative markers of fitness (cardiopulmonary exercise testing [CPET], scores on the Duke Activity Status Index [DASI] questionnaire, and serum N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide [NT pro-BNP] concentrations) for predicting death or complications after major elective non-cardiac surgery.MethodsWe did a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study at 25 hospitals: five in Canada, seven in the UK, ten in Australia, and three in New Zealand. We recruited adults aged at least 40 years who were scheduled for major non-cardiac surgery and deemed to have one or more risk factors for cardiac complications (eg, a history of heart failure, stroke, or diabetes) or coronary artery disease. Functional capacity was subjectively assessed in units of metabolic equivalents of tasks by the responsible anaesthesiologists in the preoperative assessment clinic, graded as poor (<4), moderate (4-10), or good (>10). All participants also completed the DASI questionnaire, underwent CPET to measure peak oxygen consumption, and had blood tests for measurement of NT pro-BNP concentrations. After surgery, patients had daily electrocardiograms and blood tests to measure troponin and creatinine concentrations until the third postoperative day or hospital discharge. The primary outcome was death or myocardial infarction within 30 days after surgery, assessed in all participants who underwent both CPET and surgery. Prognostic accuracy was assessed using logistic regression, receiver-operating-characteristic curves, and net risk reclassification.FindingsBetween March 1, 2013, and March 25, 2016, we included 1401 patients in the study. 28 (2%) of 1401 patients died or had a myocardial infarction within 30 days of surgery. Subjective assessment had 19·2% sensitivity (95% CI 14·2-25) and 94·7% specificity (93·2-95·9) for identifying the inability to attain four metabolic equivalents during CPET. Only DASI scores were associated with predicting the primary outcome (adjusted odds ratio 0·96, 95% CI 0·83-0·99; p=0·03).InterpretationSubjectively assessed functional capacity should not be used for preoperative risk evaluation. Clinicians could instead consider a measure such as DASI for cardiac risk assessment.FundingCanadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, UK National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia, UK Clinical Research Collaboration, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, and Monash University.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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