Intraoperative Arterial Pressure Variability and Postoperative Acute Kidney Injury

High BP variability may cause AKI because of inappropriate kidney perfusion. This study aimed to investigate the association between intraoperative BP variability and postoperative AKI in patients who underwent noncardiac surgery.

We performed a cohort study of adults undergoing noncardiac surgery in hospitals in South Korea. We studied three cohorts using the following recording windows for intraoperative BP: discovery cohort, 1-minute intervals; first validation cohort, 5-minute intervals; and second validation cohort, 2-second intervals. We calculated four variability parameters (SD, coefficient of variation, variation independent of mean, and average real variability) based on the measured mean arterial pressure values. The primary outcomes were postoperative AKI (defined by the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes serum creatinine cutoffs) and critical AKI (consisting of stage 2 or higher AKI and post-AKI death or dialysis within 90 days).

In the three cohorts, 45,520, 29,704, and 7435 patients were analyzed, each with 2230 (443 critical), 1552 (444 critical), and 300 (91 critical) postoperative AKI events, respectively. In the discovery cohort, all variability parameters were significantly associated with risk of AKI, even after adjusting for intraoperative hypotension. For example, average real variability was associated with higher risks of postoperative AKI (adjusted odds ratio, 1.13 per 1 SD increment; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.19) and critical AKI (adjusted odds ratio, 1.13 per 1 SD increment; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.26). Associations were evident predominantly among patients who also experienced intraoperative hypotension. In the validation analysis with 5-minute-interval BP records, all four variability parameters were associated with the risk of postoperative AKI or critical AKI. In the validation cohort with 2-second-interval BP records, average real variability was the only significant variability parameter.

Higher intraoperative BP variability is associated with higher risks of postoperative AKI after noncardiac surgery, independent of hypotension and other clinical characteristics.