Diagnostic accuracy of fever as a measure of postoperative pulmonary complications.

Various prevalence rates have been estimated for pulmonary complications after abdominal surgery, and fever has been thought to be a diagnostic indicator. This study quantifies the diagnostic accuracy of fever as a measure of postoperative pulmonary complications and includes the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values. Assessments using fever and chest x-ray film were determined for 270 patients after elective …