Purpose: To evaluate the predictive value of stair climbing test (SCT) on postoperative complications in lung cancer patients with limited pulmonary function. Methods: A total of 727 hospitalized lung cancer patients with limited pulmonary func-tion were retrospectively reviewed. Included in the cohort were 424 patients who under-went SCT preoperatively. Patients were grouped according to general condition, past medical history, surgical approach, pulmonary function test, and SCT results. Compari-son of the postoperative cardiopulmonary complication rates was made and independent risk factors were identified. Results: A total of 89 cardiopulmonary-related complications occurred in 69 cases, accounting for 16.3% of the entire cohort. The postoperative cardiopulmonary complica-tion rates were significantly different between groups stratified by smoking index, per-centage of forced expiratory volume in one second, percentage of diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, SCT results, excision extension, and anesthetic duration (p <0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that only height achieved (p <0.001), changes in heart rate ( increment HR; p <0.001), and excision extension (p = 0.006) were independent risk factors for postoperative cardiopulmonary complications. Conclusions: The SCT could be used as a preoperative screening method for lung cancer patients with limited pulmonary function. For those patients who could only climb less than 6 floors or had increment HR >30 bpm in the test, sublobar resection should be selected to reduce the postoperative cardiopulmonary complication rate.