Table 6.

Opinions about the risk factors of postoperative pulmonary complications

Risk factors of PPC	Considered as important RF
	n (=111)	%	95% CI
Thoracic surgery	103	92.8	84.1 – 124.9
Major abdominal surgery	100	90.1	81.4 – 121.6
COPD	109	98.9	90.4 – 132.6
Obesity	97	87.4	78.7 – 118.3
Residual neuromuscular blockade after surgery	106	95.5	86.8 – 128.2
Transplant surgery	42	37.8	30.3 – 56.8
Intracranial surgery	38	33.3	26.1 – 51.0
Chronic malnutrition	39	35.8	28.6 – 54.5
Anaemia	37	33.7	23.5 – 47.5
Prolonged use of NGT after surgery	28	25.3	17.8 – 39.3

PPC = postoperative pulmonary complications, RF = risk factor, COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, NGT = nasogastric tube, 95% CI = 95% confidence intervals