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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I appreciated the excellent work done by Reilly et al¹ in demonstrating a correlation between self-reported poor exercise tolerance and an increased risk of serious postoperative complications. I want to bring to your readers' and the authors' attention previous work that used a specific activity scale questionnaire² to demonstrate this same correlation in a group of patients undergoing major head and neck cancer surgery.³

Harrison G. Weed, MD
Columbus, Ohio

1. Reilly DF, McNeely MJ, Doerner D, et al. Self-reported exercise tolerance and the risk of serious perioperative complications. Arch Intern Med. 1999;159:2185-2192. FREE FULL TEXT 2. Goldman L, Hashimoto B, Cook EF, Loscalzo A. Comparative reproducibility and validity of systems for assessing cardiovascular functional class: advantages of a new specific activity scale. Circulation. 1981;64:1227-1234. FREE FULL TEXT 3. Pelczar BT, Weed HG, Schuller DE, Young DC, Reilley TE. Identifying high-risk patients before head and neck oncologic surgery. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1993;119:861-864. FREE FULL TEXT

In reply

We appreciate the comments of Weed and agree that his study examining the relationship between functional status and perioperative complications in patients undergoing otolaryngologic surgery also demonstrates a strong relationship between poor functional status and the development of postoperative medical complications.¹ As in our study,² the correlation was strongest for cardiovascular complications.

Our studies differed, however, in their sample size and the breadth of surgical procedures performed. Our study also used a simpler method of assessing exercise tolerance . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED ARTICLE

Self-reported Exercise Tolerance and the Risk of Serious Perioperative Complications
Dominic F. Reilly, Marguerite J. McNeely, Diane Doerner, Deborah L. Greenberg, Thomas O. Staiger, Michael J. Geist, Philip A. Vedovatti, John E. Coffey, Marc W. Mora, Timothy R. Johnson, Eugenia D. Guray, Gail A. Van Norman, and Stephan D. Fihn
Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(18):2185-2192.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT