Role of stair-climbing test in predicting postoperative cardiopulmonary complications in elderly patients with biliary diseases

One hundred and twenty-six patients above 80 years old with biliary diseases undergoing operations in Shaoxing People’s Hospital from Jan. 2002 to Jan. 2007 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients performed a preoperative stair-climbing test, and the risks for cardiopulmonary complications were evaluated with pairmatching and linear correlations analysis between stairclimbing height (h) and left ventricular ejective factor (EF), forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). There was a significant difference in the incidence of cardiopulmonary complications among different stair-climbing heights. Stair-climbing heights were positively related with EF, FVC and FEV1. This suggests that the stair-climbing test is an effective and simple method for predicting cardiopulmonary complications in elderly patients with biliary diseases.