Agreement Among Tools That Predict Perioperative Cardiovascular Risk

In 2014, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association issued a joint guideline on perioperative cardiovascular evaluation for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery (NEJM JW Gen Med Dec 1 2014 and J Am Coll Cardiol 2014; 64:e77). The guideline directs clinicians to proceed to surgery without further deliberation when risk for major cardiovascular events is lower than 1% (“low risk”). Clinicians are given a choice of three risk-prediction tools: The Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI) or two different tools from the American College of Surgeons (National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Myocardial Infarction and Cardiac Arrest [NSQIP MICA] and NSQIP surgical-risk calculator). In this retrospective study, researcher…