Relative mortality of patients operated for femoropopliteal occlusive disease

The postoperative survival of 410 patients operated for femoropopliteal occlusive disease was evaluated retrospectively. Claudicants and patients operated for critical ischaemia were separated by age and their relative mortality compared. The relative mortality risk based on standard mortality rate calculations was estimated by relating observed survival to age and sex adjusted expected survival rates. The statistical differences in observed mortality from the expected was assessed using the Mantel-Haenszel test, and a proportional-hazard test, based on a multiplicative model, was employed to compare differences in relative mortality risk. The five-year observed and expected survival for all patients was 59 and 78% respectively, indicating a doubled risk of mortality. No conspicuous differences were found between males and females. Patients operated on for intermittent claudication were significantly younger and lived significantly longer than those with critical ischaemia. There was, however, no difference in relative mortality risk for the two groups. Claudicants younger than 70 years lived longer than the older patients, but there was no difference in relative death risk for the two groups. Patients operated on for critical ischaemia showed similar mortality for younger and older patients but the younger patients had a three to four times higher relative risk of mortality compared to the older.