Patients Discharged From the Intensive Care Unit on a Dopamine Infusion-A Retrospective, Observational Study
Grégoire Blaudszun1, Alain Vuylsteke1, Caroline Gerrard1
1Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
Objective:
To assess the safety of discharging cardiac surgical patients from the intensive care unit (ICU) to wards while the patients are still receiving a dopamine infusion.
Design:
Retrospective, observational study.
Setting:
Cardiothoracic ICU of a tertiary academic hospital in the United Kingdom.
Participants:
The study comprised all cardiac surgical patients older than 18 years and admitted between September 1, 2015 and September 16, 2016 to the ICU and subsequently discharged to a surgical ward. Patients were divided in the following 2 groups: a dopamine group with patients discharged with a dopamine infusion and a control group with patients discharged without any dopamine infusion.
Interventions:
None.
Measurements And Main Results:
The hospital mortality rate was comparable in both groups (0.7% in the dopamine group v 0.2% in the control group [p = 0.11]), despite that the median logistic EuroSCORE was significantly higher in the dopamine group (7.0 v 3.8 [p < 0.01]). The ICU readmission rate was higher in the dopamine group (6.6% v 2.4%; p < 0.01). ICU and hospital lengths of stay were longer in the dopamine group (1.7 v 0.9 days [p < 0.01] and 11.4 v 8.0 days [p < 0.01], respectively).
Conclusions:
Despite a higher ICU readmission rate, ICU discharge of patients on dopamine infusion was not associated with increased mortality.
