Perioperative cardiovascular mortality in noncardiac surgery: Validation of the Lee cardiac risk index

The adapted Lee index was predictive of cardiovascular mortality in our administrative database, but its simple classification of surgical procedures as high-risk versus not high-risk seems suboptimal. Nevertheless, if the goal is to compare outcomes across hospitals or regions using administrative data, the use of the adapted Lee index, as augmented by age and more detailed classification of type of surgery, is a promising option worthy of prospective testing.