Emergency surgery: lung complications raise death risk

After major emergency abdominal surgery, patients who develop lung complications face much higher death risk, most sharply in the first days.

• About 40% of 1,074 patients developed a lung complication after surgery.
• Death within 90 days was 29.7% with lung complications versus 7.3% without.
• The risk of death was highest on day one and eased by day 14.

This came from one hospital that followed patients forward, so it shows a strong link, not proof that the lung problems caused the deaths.