TY - JOUR T1 - A prospective study of factors predicting postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC) in patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic surgery under general anaesthesis (GA) JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - P405 AU - Kaleem Ullah Toori AU - Jahangir Sarwar Khan AU - Syed Waqar Hussain Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P405.abstract N2 - Introduction: PPC after non-cardiothoracic surgery are common and can adversely effect morbidity, mortality and length of hospital stay. Knowledge as reagrds factors predicting PPC in our local setting is imperfect.Aims & Objectives: To study factors predicting PPC in our setting.Methods: Prospective study of consecutive 404 patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic surgery under GA with tracheal intubation from Jan 2009 to Dec 2010. Chi-square was used for univariate analysis and forward stepwise logistic regression for multivariate analysis.Results: The mean age was 36±18 years with 54% males. 22% were smokers, and mean BMI was 23±4.5 kg/m2 with 35% overweight & obese. 4% of subjects had chronic lung conditons while 23% had non-pulmonary chronic conditions. 70% of the surgeries were done electively and the mean duration of GA was 78±44 min. The overall PPC rate was 8%; atelactasis (48%) followed by bronchospasm (25%) and pneumonia (16%) being the commonest complications. The mean duration of hospital stay was significantly longer in patients with PPC (11±9 days, p<0.001) and 29% of them required mechanical ventilation. Logistic regression analysis identified chronic chest condition, emergency surgery and prolonged duration of GA as significant predictors of PPC while age, gender, BMI, smoking histnory and non-pulmonary premorbids were not of any significance.Conclusion: PPC after non-cardiaothoracic surgery are common and lead to increased morbidity and prolonged hospital stay in our setting. We identified pre-existing chest disease, prolonged anaesthesia and emergency surgery as significant predictors of PPC. ER -