The authors are from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, University of Massachusetts, Maine Medical Center and Fletcher Allen Healthcare.
Patient selection: lower extremity bypass for occlusive disease
Outcome: 1-year mortality
Risk factors for 1-year mortality:
(1) congestive heart failure (odds ratio 1.3)
(2) diabetes mellitus on oral hypoglycemic (odds ratio 1.5)
(3) critical limb ischemia (odds ratio 1.7)
(4) no single-segment greater saphenous vein as conduit (odds ratio 1.9)
(5) age > 80 years (odds ratio 2.0)
(6) dialysis dependent (odds ratio 2.7)
(7) emergency procedure (odds ratio 3.4)
The presence of >=3 risk factors was associated with a mortality rate of 28% versus less than 5% with no risk factors.
The cumulative product of the odds ratios may discriminate the risk better than a simple sum of risk factors.
