The American journal of cardiology
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Electrocardiography is commonly performed as part of preoperative cardiovascular risk assessment in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. However, the prognostic value of such electrocardiography is still not clear. This study retrospectively studied 23,036 patients who underwent 28,457 surgical procedures at Erasmus Medical Center from 1991 to 2000. ⋯ However, in patients who underwent low-risk or low- to intermediate-risk surgery, the absolute difference in the incidence of cardiovascular death between those with and without ECG abnormalities was only 0.5%. In conclusion, preoperative electrocardiography provides prognostic information in addition to clinical characteristics and the type of surgery. However, the usefulness of its routine use in lower risk surgery is questionable.