Perioperative Risk Factors for Intensive Care Unit Readmissions and Mortality After Cardiac Surgery

The aim of this study was to identify perioperative risk factors associated with intensive care unit readmission and in-hospital death after cardiac surgery.

Retrospective analysis using a multivariate regression model to identify independent risk factors for intensive care unit [ICU] readmission and in-hospital mortality.

The study was carried out in a single tertiary-care hospital.

This was an analysis of 2,789 adult patients.

All patients underwent cardiac surgery and were admitted to the intensive care unit perioperatively at the General Hospital Vienna.

Among the 2,789 patients included in the analysis, 167 (6%) were readmitted to the intensive care unit during the same hospital stay. Preoperative risk factors associated with ICU readmission included end-stage renal failure (odds ratio [OR] 2.80, 95% CI: 1.126-6.964), arrhythmia (OR 1.59, 95% CI: 1.019-2.480), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.018-2.237), age >80 (OR 2.55, 95% CI: 1.189-5.466), and European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II >8 (OR 1.40, 95% CI: 1.013-1.940). Readmitted patients were more likely to die than nonreadmitted patients (OR 5.3, 95% CI: 3.284-8.558). In-hospital mortality in readmitted patients was 19.2%, whereas that in the nonreadmitted study population was 5.1%.

Preoperative risk assessment is crucial for identifying cardiac surgery patients at risk of ICU readmission and in-hospital death. The potentially modifiable risk factors pinpointed by this study call for the optimization of care before surgery and after ICU discharge.