Reliability and validity of clinician ECG interpretation for athletes.

BACKGROUND: Electrocardiogram (ECG) with preparticipation evaluation (PPE) for athletes remains controversial in the United States and diagnostic accuracy of clinician ECG interpretation is unclear. This study aimed to assess reliability and validity of clinician ECG interpretation using expert-validated ECGs according to the 2010 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) interpretation criteria. METHODS: This is a blinded, prospective study of diagnostic accuracy of clinician ECG interpretation. Anonymized ECGs were validated for normal and abnormal patterns by blinded expert interpreters according to the ESC interpretation criteria from October 2011 through March 2012. Six pairs of clinician interpreters were recruited from relevant clinical specialties in an academic medical center in March 2012. Each clinician interpreted 85 ECGs according to the ESC interpretation guidelines. Cohen and Fleiss' kappa, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated within specialties and across primary care and cardiology specialty groups. RESULTS: Experts interpreted 189 ECGs yielding a kappa of 0.63, demonstrating "substantial" inter-rater agreement. A total of 85 validated ECGs, including 26 abnormals, were selected for clinician interpretation. The kappa across cardiology specialists was "substantial" and "moderate" across primary care (0.69 vs 0.52, respectively, P < 0.001). Sensitivity and specificity to detect abnormal patterns were similar between cardiology and primary care groups (sensitivity 93.3% vs 81.3%, respectively, P = 0.31; specificity 88.8% vs 89.8%, respectively, P = 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: Clinician ECG interpretation according to the ESC interpretation criteria appears to demonstrate limited reliability and validity. Before widespread adoption of ECG for PPE of U.S. athletes, further research of training focused on improved reliability and validity of clinician ECG interpretation is warranted.

Developing questionnaires for educational research: AMEE Guide No. 87.

In this AMEE Guide, we consider the design and development of self-administered surveys, commonly called questionnaires. Questionnaires are widely employed in medical education research. Unfortunately, the processes used to develop such questionnaires vary in quality and lack consistent, rigorous standards. Consequently, the quality of the questionnaires used in medical education research is highly variable. To address this problem, this AMEE Guide presents a systematic, seven-step process for designing high-quality questionnaires, with particular emphasis on developing survey scales. These seven steps do not address all aspects of survey design, nor do they represent the only way to develop a high-quality questionnaire. Instead, these steps synthesize multiple survey design techniques and organize them into a cohesive process for questionnaire developers of all levels. Addressing each of these steps systematically will improve the probabilities that survey designers will accurately measure what they intend to measure.

Validity evidence for medical school OSCEs: associations with USMLE® step assessments.

BACKGROUND: Recently, there has been a surge in the use of objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) at medical schools around the world, and with this growth has come the concomitant need to validate such assessments. PURPOSES: The current study examined the associations between student performance on several school-level clinical skills and knowledge assessments, including two OSCEs, the National Board of Medical Examiners® (NBME) Subject Examinations, and the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) and Step 3 assessments. METHODS: The sample consisted of 806 medical students from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. We conducted Pearson correlation analysis as well as stepwise multiple linear regression modeling to examine the strength of associations between students' performance on 2nd- and 3rd-year OSCEs and their two Step 2 CS component scores and Step 3 scores. RESULTS: Positive associations were found between the OSCE variables and the USMLE scores; in particular, student performance on both the 2nd- and 3rd-year OSCEs was more strongly associated with the two Step 2 CS component scores than with Step 3 scores. CONCLUSIONS: These findings, although preliminary, provide some predictive validity evidence for the use of OSCEs in determining readiness of medical students for clinical practice and licensure.

Application essays and future performance in medical school: are they related?

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of research on whether application essays are a valid indicator of medical students' future performance. PURPOSE: The goal is to score medical school application essays systematically and examine the correlations between these essay scores and several indicators of student performance during medical school and internship. METHODS: A journalist created a scoring rubric based on the journalism literature and scored 2 required essays of students admitted to our university in 1 year (N = 145). We picked 7 indicators of medical school and internship performance and correlated these measures with overall essay scores: preclinical medical school grade point average (GPA), clinical medical school GPA, cumulative medical school GPA, U.S. Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 and 2 scores, and scores on a program director's evaluation measuring intern professionalism and expertise. We then examined the Pearson and Spearman correlations between essay scores and the outcomes. RESULTS: Essay scores did not vary widely. American Medical College Application Service essay scores ranged from 3.3 to 4.5 (M = 4.11, SD = 0.15), and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences essay scores ranged from 2.9 to 4.5 (M = 4.09, SD = 0.17). None of the medical school or internship performance indicators was significantly correlated with the essay scores. CONCLUSIONS: These findings raise questions about the utility of matriculation essays, a resource-intensive admission requirement.

Using Self-Regulated Learning Microanalysis to Examine Regulatory Processes in Clerkship Students Engaged in Practice Questions.

Introduction: Self-regulated learning is a cyclical process of forethought, performance, and self-reflection that has been used as an assessment tool in medical education. No prior studies have evaluated SRL processes for answering multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and most evaluated one or two iterations of a non-MCQ task. SRL assessment during MCQs may elucidate reasons why learners are successful or not on these questions that are encountered repeatedly during medical education. Methods: Internal medicine clerkship students at three institutions participated in a SRL microanalytic protocol that targeted strategic planning, metacognitive monitoring, causal attributions, and adaptive inferences across seven MCQs. Responses were transcribed and coded according to previously published methods for microanalytic protocols. Results: Forty-four students participated. In the forethought phase, students commonly endorsed prioritizing relevant features as their diagnostic strategy (n = 20, 45%) but few mentioned higher-order diagnostic reasoning processes such as integrating clinical information (n = 5, 11%) or comparing/contrasting diagnoses (n = 0, 0%). However, in the performance phase, students' metacognitive processes included high frequencies of integration (n = 38, 86%) and comparing/contrasting (n = 24, 55%). In the self-reflection phase, 93% (n = 41) of students faulted their management reasoning and 84% (n = 37) made negative references to their abilities. Less than 10% (n = 4) of students indicated that they would adapt their diagnostic reasoning process for these questions. Discussion: This study describes in detail student self-regulatory processes during MCQs. We found that students engaged in higher-order diagnostic reasoning processes but were not explicit about it and seldom reflected critically on these processes after selecting an incorrect answer. Self-reflections focused almost exclusively on management reasoning and negative references to abilities which may decrease self-efficacy. Encouraging students to identify and evaluate diagnostic reasoning processes and make attributions to controllable factors may improve performance.

Use of the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 to predict suicidal ideations in patients taking varenicline.

Varenicline, when taken for smoking cessation, has been associated with suicidal ideations (SI), but the incidence and risk factors for SI are largely unknown. The aim of this paper was to describe the incidence and pretreatment patient factors that are associated with SI when taking varenicline. We conducted a smoking cessation trial of 217 patients at a single center, all of whom took varenicline. Between 6 and 18 months after study completion (when the risk for SI became known), we successfully contacted 72 (response rate 33%) and queried them for SI during varenicline treatment. Of these, 4 (6%) had SI. Self-reported history of depression was not associated with SI (p = 0.11), but depressive symptoms at the time of varenicline initiation as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (p = 0.004) and Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (p = 0.007) were associated with SI. The Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (which is only two questions) had a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 90% to predict SI. We conclude that current depressive symptoms, not necessarily a history of depression, are associated with SI when taking varenicline for smoking cessation. Providers should consider screening for depressive symptoms before treatment with varenicline. (Am J Addict 2012;00:1-7).

Medical education in the United States of America.

This article was written to provide a brief history of the medical educational system in the USA, the current educational structure, and the current topics and challenges facing USA medical educators today. The USA is fortunate to have a robust educational system, with over 150 medical schools, thousands of graduate medical education programs, well-accepted standardized examinations throughout training, and many educational research programs. All levels of medical education, from curriculum reform in medical schools and the integration of competencies in graduate medical education, to the maintenance of certification in continuing medical education, have undergone rapid changes since the turn of the millennium. The intent of the changes has been to involve the patient sooner in the educational process, use better educational strategies, link educational processes more closely with educational outcomes, and focus on other skills besides knowledge. However, with the litany of changes have come increased regulation without (as of yet) clear evidence as to which of the changes will result in better physicians. In addition, the USA governmental debt crisis threatens the current educational structure. The next wave of changes in the USA medical system needs to focus on what particular educational strategies result in the best physicians and how to fund the system over the long term.

What does a good lifestyle mean to you? Perspectives of 4th-year U.S. medical students with military service obligations in 2009.

BACKGROUND: A specialties' lifestyle is known to be important for specialty selection, but how medical students define this concept is unknown. PURPOSE: The aim of this article is to determine how 4th-year medical students perceive lifestyle of specialties. METHODS: All 4th-year U.S. medical students graduating in 2009 with a military service obligation were invited to participate in an electronic survey. Responses to an open-ended question, "When someone says 'That specialty has a good lifestyle,' what does that mean to you?" were classified into themes by a consensus of the authors and then compared to the students' selected specialty. RESULTS: Response rate for the questionnaire was 46% (369 of 797). Four themes describing lifestyle emerged: "schedule control" (67% of students), "off time" (53%), "financial aspects" (48%), and "work life" (26%). CONCLUSIONS: Medical students' definition of a "good lifestyle" includes four themes, which should be used in future research of the lifestyle factor of specialty selection.

Alternate list matriculants: outcome data from those medical students admitted from the alternate list.

BACKGROUND: Medical schools are increasing class size to meet future health care needs for our nation. This may lead to more students being accepted from an alternate list (vs. primary acceptances). Given these trends, performance outcomes were compared for alternate list matriculants and primary acceptances. Our hypothesis was that those students accepted from an alternate list would perform equally to the primary acceptances on these outcomes. METHOD: We compared medical school performance of students who received a primary recommendation of "accept" and compared them to those who received a recommendation of "alternate" over a 10-year period. Given the small sample size of this alternate list group (N = 23), descriptive statistics are reported. RESULTS: No consistent differences between alternate and primary acceptance matriculants in terms of cumulative medical school grade point average, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 scores and USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge scores were found. Only three alternates (13.0%) were presented to student promotion committee compared to 17.2% for matriculants who were primary acceptances. Three alternates were required to repeat a year (average percentage of 8.7%) compared to 5.6% of matriculants who were primary acceptances. CONCLUSIONS: This observational study provides some reassurance that as long as the qualifications of the applicant pool remain adequate, admissions policies that provide for alternate list acceptances may not produce poorer performing students, at least by our current outcome measures.

Exploring the relationship between self-reported research experience and performance in medical school and internship.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between self-reported research experience and medical students' performance in medical school and internship. METHODS: We collected data from seven year-groups (1993-1999; N = 1,112) and examined 7 performance outcomes: medical school preclinical grade point average (GPA), medical school clinical GPA, cumulative medical school GPA, U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and 2 scores, and scores on a previously validated program director's survey of intern professionalism and expertise. We then conducted a series of multiple linear regressions to determine the relations between self-reported research experience and our seven outcomes. RESULTS: When compared to those who reported no prior research experience, students who reported research experience performed significantly better on U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and had a higher medical school preclinical GPA. However, these same students scored significantly lower on intern professionalism and expertise ratings. Self-reported research experience did not show statistically significant correlations with the other outcome variables. CONCLUSIONS: The results from our large, multiyear, cohort study suggest that prior research experience may account for some variance in outcomes in the early stages of medical school education, but that variance explained diminishes considerably as trainees progress into the more senior phases of education. On the other hand, prior research experience may be negatively related to students' performance in internship. In all cases, however, effect sizes are small.

Relationship between admissions committee review and student performance in medical school and internship.

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between tertiary reviewer (admissions committee member) comments and medical students' performance during medical school and into internship. METHODS: We collected data from seven year-groups (1993-1999) and coded tertiary reviewer comments into 14 themes. We then conducted an exploratory factor analysis to reduce the dimensions of the themes (excluding the Overall impression theme). Subsequently, we performed Pearson correlation analyses and multiple linear regression analysis to examine the relationship between the factors and seven outcome measures: medical school preclinical grade point average (GPA), medical school clinical GPA, cumulative medical school GPA, U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and 2 scores, and scores on a program director's evaluation measuring intern professionalism and expertise. RESULTS: We extracted seven factors from the 13 themes and found small-to-moderate, significant correlations between the factors, the Overall impression theme, and the outcome measures. In particular, positive comments on Test and Maturity were associated with higher U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and 2 scores. Negative comments on Interview and Recommendations were associated with lower ratings of professionalism during internship. Comments on Overall impression were significantly associated with all the outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: Tertiary reviewer comments were weakly associated with performance in medical school and internship. Compared with positive comments, negative comments had stronger associations with medical school and internship performance measures.

Development and initial validation of a survey to assess students' self-efficacy in medical school.

Self-efficacy is a personal belief in one's capability to successfully execute the behaviors necessary to attain designated types of performances. Sometimes described as task-specific self-confidence, self-efficacy is a key component in many contemporary theories of motivation and learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey for measuring students' medical skills self-efficacy and to collect reliability and validity evidence for the instrument. A secondary purpose was to explore differences in students' self-efficacy from year 1 of medical school to year 4. We created 19 survey items based on the 6 core competencies of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and we collected data from 304 medical students. Results from an exploratory factor analysis suggested three interpretable factors: patient care self-efficacy (eight items, Cronbach's alpha = 0.92), interpersonal skills self-efficacy (three items, Cronbach's alpha = 0.76), and evidence-based medicine self-efficacy (three items, Cronbach's alpha = 0.79). We then compared students' self-efficacy at different stages of training using a one-way multivariate analysis of variance. Consistent with our expectations, we found several statistically significant differences, suggesting students' self-efficacy increased considerably from year 1 of medical school to year 4, F(9, 725) = 30.58, p < 0.001, Wilks' lambda = 0.46. Using this survey, medical educators and researchers have a psychometrically sound tool for measuring students' medical skills self-efficacy during undergraduate medical education. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.

40 years of military medical education: an overview of the Long-Term Career Outcome Study (LTCOS).

In 2005, the Long-Term Career Outcome Study (LTCOS) was established by the Dean, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). The original charge to the LTCOS team was to establish an electronic database of current and past students at USU. Since its inception, however, the LTCOS team has broadened its mission and started collecting and analyzing data on a continuous basis for the purposes of program evaluation and, in some cases, research. The purpose of this commentary is to review the history of the LTCOS, including details about USU, a brief review of prior LTCOS work, and progress made since our last essay on LTCOS efforts. This commentary also provides an introduction to the special issue, which is arranged as a series of articles that span the medical education continuum (i.e., before, during, and after medical school). The relative balance of articles in each phase of training represents the LTCOS team's efforts to address the entire continuum of medical education.

Leadership success and the Uniformed Services University: perspectives of flag officer alumni.

UNLABELLED: The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) houses the nation's only federal medical school, the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine. A key aspect of the curriculum at USU is leadership education as graduates go on to serve the Department of Defense through a variety of senior positions in the military. We surveyed a specific group of USU graduates who have achieved the rank of General or Admiral ("flag officers") to enhance our understanding of successful leadership for military physicians and to gain an understanding of how USU might shape its curriculum in the future. METHODS: We sent an Internet-based survey to 13 flag officer graduates. The first section of the survey contained items from the multifactor leadership questionnaire-6S, a questionnaire with evidence of reliability and validity for evaluating leadership styles. The second section of the survey contained open-ended questions addressing key characteristics of an effective leader in the Military Health System, experiences that prepared them for leadership, USU's role in leadership positions, and advice for USU for better educating future leaders. The second section of the survey was coded using the constant comparative method. RESULTS: Eight flag officers (63%) responded to the survey. They all scored highly on transformational leadership style. Qualitative themes reached saturation for each open-ended question. The flag officers identified characteristics consistent with published literature from other fields regarding effective leadership. They endorsed USU's role in achieving their leadership positions and suggested areas for improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristics of effective leadership (transformational leadership style) identified by the flag officers surveyed in this study are consistent with the literature from other fields. These finding have important implications for leadership education at USU and potentially other institutions. The results also provide additional data to support the notion that USU is meeting its societal obligation to educate future leaders in military medicine.

Where are they now? USU School of Medicine graduates after their military obligation is complete.

The Uniformed Services University's (USU) F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine was chartered in 1972, with the goal of providing high-quality physicians for the Uniformed Services. In exchange for their education, USU graduates incur an active duty service obligation, after which they may choose to stay on active duty or transition to civilian practice. The purpose of this study is to describe the practice characteristics of USU graduates after this obligation has been completed in order to determine the societal benefits during this phase of their careers. To accomplish this purpose, we performed a retrospective cohort study of the first 20 years of USU graduates (1980-1999). We used the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile to determine the graduates' current practice location and characteristics, as well as their board certification status. Of these 2,760 graduates, nearly all (91%) were involved in active clinical practice in over 100 self-declared specialties, the vast majority (89%) practiced in locations other than the immediate vicinity of the medical school (i.e., Maryland and the District of Columbia), and most still worked for the federal government (71%). Finally, USU graduates in full-time clinical practice had a board certification rate of 93%, which was better than the average of all other graduates of U.S. Medical Schools (88%) in the same time period. Thus, it seems USU is attaining its goal of producing high-quality physicians who continue to benefit the nation after their service obligation has been completed, with many still in federal service.

The Long-Term Career Outcome Study (LTCOS): what have we learned from 40 years of military medical education and where should we go?

The work of the Long-Term Career Outcome Study (LTCOS), F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) has been a multidisciplinary effort spanning more than 5 years. Borrowing from the established program evaluation and quality assurance literature, the LTCOS team has organized its evaluation and research efforts into three phases: before medical school, during medical school, and after medical school. The purpose of this commentary is to summarize the research articles presented in this special issue and to answer two fundamental questions: (1) what has been learned from LTCOS research conducted to date, and (2) where should the LTCOS team take its evaluation and research efforts in the future? Answers to these questions are relevant to USU, and they also can inform other medical education institutions and policy makers. What is more, answers to these questions will help to ensure USU meets its societal obligation to provide the highest quality health care to military members, their families, and society at large.

Impact of practice environment on procedures performed by U.S. Army general internists.

BACKGROUND: A recent survey reported that U.S. general internists are performing fewer procedures, although practice environment heavily influences this experience. OBJECTIVE: To determine the procedures performed by U.S. Army general internists. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort study. METHODS: A modified questionnaire was distributed to all active duty U.S. Army internists. Respondents were asked to indicate their practice setting and the procedures they had performed in the previous year. Analysis of variance, t-tests, and Fisher's exact test were used for statistical comparisons, and Bonferroni's correction was used for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Eighty-two internists responded to the survey (55% response rate). Army internists performed a greater variety of procedures than the civilian benchmark (10.8 vs. 6.5, p < 0.001, t-test). Internists at Army community hospitals performed more types of procedures than individuals practicing in a tertiary care facility or troop clinic (13.8, 10.0, 9.0, respectively, p < 0.05, analysis of variance). Deployed internists performed more chest tube placements and endotracheal intubations, and internists at home were more likely to perform thoracentesis, paracentesis, graded exercise tests, and spirometry (p < 0.0012). CONCLUSIONS: U.S. Army internists perform a greater variety of procedures than their civilian colleagues. Our findings underline the importance of procedure training in military graduate and continuing medical education.

Distal vein patch with an arteriovenous fistula: a viable option for the patient without autogenous conduit and severe distal occlusive disease.

BACKGROUND: The addition of a distal arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) to improve patency in lower extremity bypass is well described. This report describes a technique of using a distal AVF to enhance a distal vein patch (DVP) in patients without adequate autogenous conduit and who have concomitant severely disadvantaged arterial runoff. METHODS: A retrospective review from May 2002 to May 2007 analyzed 270 tibial bypasses. DVP-AVF was the conduit in 30 bypass grafts. Patient demographics included 16 men, 14 women, diabetes mellitus (67%), and chronic renal failure (20%). All patients had limb-threatening ischemia manifest as rest pain or tissue loss, with 20 patients referred after failed prior revascularization: 11 failed bypasses, and nine failed endovascular interventions. In each case, the only outflow artery available was an isolated tibial segment or a diseased pedal vessel not ordinarily deemed suitable for bypass. At surgery, a common ostium AVF was created between the outflow tibial artery and corresponding tibial vein before DVP construction. Follow-up was 1 to 24 months, with graft function evaluated by pulse examination and duplex surveillance. Primary patency and limb salvage +/- SE were determined by life-table analysis using Rutherford criteria. RESULTS: The proximal anastomosis originated from the external iliac (23%), common femoral artery (43%), and superficial femoral artery (33%). Outflow arteries included the anterior tibial (40%), posterior tibial (30%), and peroneal (30%). Venous hypertension in the bypassed limb was noted, but not considered problematic in any patient. Perioperative graft failure occurred in one patient. Six graft failures led to six major amputations (1 above knee; 5 below knee). One patent graft was excised due to infection. Primary patency at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months was 78.3% +/- 6.8%, 78.3% +/- 10.5%, 62.6% +/- 11.1%, and 62.6% +/- 15.6%; limb salvage was 78.7% +/- 6.7%, 78.7% +/- 10.1%, 78.7% +/- 10.1%, and 57.7% +/- 12.5%. CONCLUSION: This early experience describes a modification of the DVP technique in patients with threatened limb loss and severely disadvantaged tibial runoff. The addition of an AVF may reduce outflow resistance, thereby contributing to higher flow rates and improved graft patency. Further investigation is warranted because the DVP-AVF technique may result in acceptable graft patency and limb salvage for patients with no other alternative than amputation.

Letters of recommendation: rating, writing, and reading by clerkship directors of internal medicine.

BACKGROUND: Letters of Recommendations (LORs) are used for applications to medical school and graduate medical education, but how they are used by current internal medicine educators is unknown. DESCRIPTION: In 2006, the Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine conducted its annual, voluntary survey, and one section pertained to LORs. Survey items were categorized into questions regarding rating, writing, and reading LORs with answers on 3- to 5-point scales. EVALUATION: The response rate for the 110 institution members was 75%. When rating LORs, the most important factor was depth of understanding of the trainee (98% essential or important), followed by a numerical comparison to other students (94%), grade distribution (92%), and summary statement (91%). Although most (78%) agreed that reading LORs in general were important for trainee selection, few agreed that this was because of the ability to discern marginal performance (31%) or predict future performance (25%). CONCLUSIONS: LORs remain an important part of the application process for medical school and internal medicine residency. Letter writers should convey a great depth of understanding of the applicant, provide a numerical comparison with other students (including a denominator), and give a specific summary statement.

Effect of chronic renal insufficiency on outcomes of carotid endarterectomy.

OBJECTIVE: Conflicting data exist regarding the effect of chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) on carotid endarterectomy (CEA) outcomes. A large database was used to analyze the effect of CRI, defined by glomerular filtration rate (GFR), as an independent risk factor of CEA. METHODS: Prospectively collected data regarding CEAs performed at 123 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers as part of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program were retrospectively analyzed. Renal function was used to divide patients into three CRI groups: normal or mild (control; GFR >/=60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)), moderate (GFR 30 to 59), and severe (GFR <30). Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to characterize risk factors and their associations with 30-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Between Jan 1, 1996, and Dec 31, 2003, 22,080 patients underwent CEA. Patients missing creatinine levels, already dialysis-dependent, or in acute renal failure just before surgery were excluded. This left 20,899 available for analysis, of which 13,965 had a GFR of >/=60, 6,423 had a GFR of 30 to 59, and 511 had a GFR of <30. The incidence of neurologic complications did not differ significantly (control, 1.7%; moderate CRI, 1.9%; severe CRI, 2.7%). The moderate CRI group experienced significantly more cardiac events (1.7% vs 0.9% for controls, P < .001). This remained predictive in the multivariate model even adjusting for all other risk factors (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-2.3; P = .009). The moderate CRI group also had higher rates of pulmonary complications (2.1% vs 1.3% control; P < .001; AOR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.7; P = .031) but not 30-day mortality (P = .269). Those with severe CRI had a much higher mortality (3.1% vs 1.0% control, P < .001), which remained significant in the multivariate model (AOR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.6-4.8; P < .001). CONCLUSION: Although impaired renal function does not independently increase the risk of neurologic or infectious complications, CRI is a significant negative independent risk factor in predicting other outcomes after CEA. Patients with moderate CRI (GFR, 30-59 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) are at increased risk for cardiac and pulmonary morbidity, but not death, and those with severe CRI (GFR <30 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) have a much higher operative mortality. Patients with CRI should be carefully evaluated before CEA to optimize existing cardiac and pulmonary disease. Understanding this increased risk may assist the surgeon in preoperative counseling and perioperative management.