The relationship between functional capacity (FC) and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) in senile patients after noncardiac surgery.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the number of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and functional capacity (FC) in the senile patients undergone noncardiac surgery. One hundred and eighty-two senile patients scheduled for elective noncardiac surgery were selected. According to the Duke activity status index (DASI), the FC of each patient was evaluated, and also their CVRFs were recorded. According to the number of CVRFs, the patients were ranked into different groups. The significant differences in FC between the groups(') were identified using the analysis of variance. The examination showed that FC decreased with the increasing number of CVRFs. As a conclusion, we emphasize that with the increasing number of CVRFs, the FC of senile patients, i.e., their metabolic equivalents (METs) decrease. The occurrence of low FC and higher CVRFs is a common phenomenon in senile patients. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.