OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between clinical and preoperative pulmonary functional evaluation and occurrence of postoperative pulmonary complications. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study with patients submitted to pulmonary functional evaluation over a period of 5 years. We collected clinical, demographic and spirometric data, also those related to surgical procedures and postoperative pulmonary complications. RESULTS: Medical records of 521 patients were evaluated. Mean age was 59.5 ± 14 years, 65.8% were male, and 93.4% were white. The mean FEV1, was 76.6 ± 24.6% of the predicted. Clinical comorbidities were present in 73.5% of all patients (COPD in 29.8%). The most common surgical sites were thorax (n=122; 23.4%) and upper abdomen (n=117; 22.5%). Postoperative pulmonary complications occurred in 99 patients (19.0%), with respiratory insufficiency as the most common (4.6%). Forty three patients (8.3%) died. The rates of pulmonary complications were higher after thoracic (28.9%), cardiac (28%) and upper abdomen surgery (24.3%) (p<0.0001). Most patients with pulmonary complications (66.7%) were classified as ASA III and IV (p<0.01), and in 70.2% time of anesthesia was > 3.5 hours (p<0.0001). Median lenght of hospital stay was statistically different between patients with and without pulmonary complications (23.5 [15.8-34] days vs. 10 [6-18] days; p<0.001). Patients who never smoked had fewer complications than those with current or past smoking history (p=0.04). We did not find significant association between postoperative pulmonary complications and presence of COPD, FEV1, and body mass index (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: The most important factors associated with postoperative pulmonary complications were surgical site, time of anesthesia, and ASA classification.
General surgery; Postoperative complications; Risk factors; Respiratory function tests
