Predicative value of preoperative C-reactive protein for postoperative adverse cardiac events in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery

Background: The occurrence of adverse cardiac events always disturbs the successful recovery, personal and economic life of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. This study aimed to gain further insight into potential predicators for adverse cardiac events after major abdominal surgery. Methods: 246 patients who scheduled to undergo selective major abdominal surgery were eligible to enter this study. The clinical data, preoperative laboratory tests, the characteristics before the surgery, comorbidities and operation-related information were all recorded in details. The study end-point was defined as the occurrence of adverse cardiac events within 30 postoperative days. Results: Of all the 246 enrolled patients, 51 (51/246, 20.7%) were diagnosed with adverse cardiac events within 30 days after the operation. The univariate analysis and multiple logistic regress analysis suggested that C-reactive protein (CRP) level was the only preoperative predicator for postoperative adverse cardiac events after major abdominal surgery (OR: 3.93, 95% CI: 1.82-8.57, P=0.011). The sensitivity and specificity of CRP for the adverse cardiac events predication were respectively 72.0% and 72.5% with the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.766 (95% CI: 0.690-0.843, P<0.001) by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Conclusions: The preoperative CRP concentration was an independent predicative factor for adverse cardiac events after major abdominal surgery.