The DCs decreased peripheral pulses and decreased peripheral
perfusion (46.1%) were judged as relevant to this study, as
they appeared in high frequency in a clinical validation
study of DCO in patients after cardiac surgery with PAC
in a specialty cardiology hospital10. Among the 32 DCs
identified as independent variables, for this study the
DCs with a score of 45% or greater were considered
to be relevant DCs. Oliva (2003) found DCs with a
score of 46% to be significant in that study; using this
work as reference, the authors chose 45% as a significant
score for this study.