Heart rate variables in the Vascular Quality Initiative are not reliable predictors of adverse cardiac outcomes or mortality after major elective vascular surgery

The VQI AHR and highest intraoperative HR variables are highly confounded by patient presentation, operative variables, and beta-blocker therapy. The discordance between cardiac risk and HR as well as the lack of consistent correlation to outcome makes them unreliable predictors. The VQI has elected to discontinue collecting AHR and highest intraoperative HR data, given insufficient evidence to suggest their importance as an outcome measure.