Association between heart failure and postop mortality in ambulatory surgery patients

Editor's Note

In this study, heart failure with or without symptoms was associated with an increased risk of postoperative mortality at 90-days and complications at 30-days in ambulatory surgery patients.

In this analysis of 355,121 patients having noncardiac ambulatory surgical procedures, 90-day mortality was 2% in patients with heart failure and 0.39% in those without heart failure. The risk of 30-day postoperative complications was 5.7% in patients with heart failure and 2.7% in those without.

These data may be helpful in preoperative discussions with ambulatory surgery patients with heart failure, the authors say.