Incidence of concurrent systemic disease in the surgical population of a tertiary care hospital.

A retrospective analysis was made of the case records of 1568 surgical patients admitted in 1975 to a tertiary care hospital in the Province of Newfoundland, to determine and classify the incidence of concurrent systemic disease. Almost 60 percent of patients had symptoms or signs of concurrent disease, the numbers increasing progressively from below 30 per cent at 21-30 years, to 90 per cent at ages 71-80. The predominant abnormalities were cardiovascular (60 per cent), followed by respiratory and metabolic conditions (41 and 40 per cent respectively). Detailed findings are presented, including those relating to the incidence of ischaemic heart disease and hypertension, to the coexistence of several diseases, to smoking and chronic obstructive lung disease, to obesity, to diabetes, and to alcoholism. This review documents the high incidence of concurrent disease in surgical patients and has implications for the training of anaesthetists and the organization of their work.