ACCEL: The Perioperative Ischemic Evaluation (POISE) trial: A randomized controlled trial of metoprolol versus placebo in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery

The prevalence of cardiovascular disease increases with age, as does the need for noncardiac surgery. As the number of persons older than 65 years in the United States increases over the next 30 years, the number of noncardiac surgical procedures performed in this population likely will increase from the current 6 million to nearly 12 million per year, and nearly one-fourth of these - major intra-abdominal, thoracic, vascular, and orthopedic …