Rosh Emergency Medicine Practice Test 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The ASA physical status classification is widely used in the context of preoperative risk assessment for patients undergoing surgeries, including cardiac procedures. This classification system evaluates a patient's overall health status and ability to tolerate anesthesia and surgery by categorizing them into one of six levels, ranging from healthy individuals to those with severe systemic disease or moribund status.

In the context of predicting perioperative mortality risk, the ASA classification provides valuable insights. For example, patients classified as ASA I (healthy) have a significantly lower risk of postoperative complications compared to those classified as ASA IV (severe systemic disease). This stratification helps anesthesiologists and surgeons assess the risk before proceeding with surgical interventions.

Other options, while useful in different contexts, either do not specifically measure preoperative mortality risk in surgical patients or focus more on different aspects of patient care. The NYHA classification primarily assesses heart failure functional capacity, the APACHE II score is largely used in critical care to evaluate the severity of illness in hospitalized patients, and the Glasgow Coma Scale assesses neurological function rather than cardiac risk. Therefore, the ASA physical status classification is the most relevant score for predicting the risk of preoperative mortality in cardiac surgery.