Surgery
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The use of beta blockers in surgical patients has been suggested to decrease perioperative cardiac events. However, the overall risk reduction, on the basis of solely aggregate data from randomized studies, is unknown. The objective is to evaluate the effect of perioperative beta blockade in noncardiac surgery for protection against mortality or cardiac events. ⋯ This report highlights for the first time the aggregated risk reduction from all published randomized controlled trials, and shows the protection of perioperative beta blockade against both short-term complications and mortality.