Fig. 2. Kaplan-Meier curve showing the cumulative event-free proportion (a myocardial infarction did not occur) during the first 10 postoperative days. The solid line represents patients who were not prescribed a β-blocker on the day of surgery (cumulative event rate 0.8%). The dashed line represents those patients who were prescribed a β-blocker on the day of surgery and in whom this prescription was continued for at least 1 week or until hospital discharge, whichever came first (cumulative event rate 3.0%). The dashed - dotted line represents those who were prescribed a β-blocker on the day of surgery and in whom this prescription was discontinued during the first week after surgery (cumulative event rate 7.9%).