Patient selection: elective cranial neurosurgery
Outcome: major morbidity associated with surgery
Questions:
(1) able to climb 2 flights of stairs without resting (2 flights of stairs is equivalent to going up 1 story for a distance >= 4 vertical meters)
(2) perception of overall health prior to surgery (excellent, good, average, poor or very poor)
(3) preoperative "Test your Memory" score
Risk factors for poor outcome:
(1) unable to climb 2 flights of stairs
(2) considered overall health poor or very poor
(3) any degree of cognitive impairment
Each risk factor was score 0 if absent or 1 if present.
Interpretation:
• minimum number of risk factors: 0
• maximum number of risk factors: 3
• The presence of at least one risk factor was associated with major complications in 66%.
• The presence of no risk factors was associated with a major complication rate of 9%.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve was 0.68 but was 0.73 if the patient was >=65.
