ELDERLY persons comprise an increasingly larger portion of our population. Groom1 has shown that whereas the entire population of the United States increased only 7% between 1930 and 1940, the number of people from 65 to 74 years of age increased 35%, and the number over 75 years of age increased 38%. On the basis of this trend, it has been estimated that by 1980 20% of our population will be 60 years of age or older. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company2 has reported a progressive average lengthening of life of its industrial policyholders from 55.8 years in 1929 to 62.5 years in 1939 and 67.8 years in 1949. The importance of surgery on elderly persons is, therefore, readily apparent. This study is a review of 500 consecutive patients 60 years of age or older who were subjected to major surgical operations at the Hospital of Saint Barnabas