Does ASA classification effectively risk stratify patients undergoing bariatric surgery: a MBSAQIP retrospective cohort of 138,612 of patients.

While elevated ASA class correlates with increased serious complications, pre-operative functional status appears to have a much greater contribution to odds of serious complications and mortality. These findings question the utility of using ASA to risk stratify patients peri-operatively and provides evidence for using a simpler and more practical functional status approach.