Simplified comorbidity score for elderly patients undergoing thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer

Purpose We investigated the efficiency of the Simplified Comorbidity Score (SCS) for predicting postoperative complications and prognosis in elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for lung cancer. Methods We reviewed 216 patients aged 75 years or older, who underwent pulmonary resection by VATS for lung cancer between January, 2005 and December, 2012. The SCS assigns different scores to patients’ comorbidities; namely, smoking ( n = 7); diabetes mellitus ( n = 5); renal insufficiency ( n = 4); and respiratory, neoplastic, and cardiovascular comorbidities or alcoholism ( n = 1 each). Patients were divided into a high SCS group (SCS ≥ 9; n = 154) and a low SCS group (