Association Between Early Speech-Language Pathology Consultation and Pneumonia After Cardiac Surgery

Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are reported to be at higher risk for oropharyngeal dysphagia and aspiration, which may predispose them to respiratory complications such as pneumonia. Speech-language pathology consultation facilitates early identification of swallowing difficulties providing appropriate and timely interventions during the postoperative period. This study explores the association between pneumonia and timing of speech-language pathology order entry and evaluation following cardiac surgery.

A retrospective study was performed on adults who underwent cardiac surgery in a tertiary care center, from July 2016 through December 2019. Patients with preexisting tracheostomy upon admission for cardiac surgery were excluded. The medical records of patients who had speech-language pathology consultation orders for swallowing concerns were analyzed in order to compare the timing of speech-language pathology order entry, completion of speech-language pathology evaluation, and incidence of pneumonia during hospitalization following cardiac surgery.

During the study period, 3,168 patients underwent cardiac surgery, of which 2,864 patients met the inclusion criteria. Speech-language pathology was ordered for 473 cases (16.5%), and clinical swallow evaluation (CSE) was completed by speech-language pathology in 419 patients (88.6%), of which 309 patients were suspected to have dysphagia (73.7%). Among the 2,391 patients without speech-language pathology consultation, pneumonia was reported in 34 patients (1.42%). Pneumonia was reported in 53 patients in the speech-language pathology cohort, of which 43 patients (13.9%) were suspected to have dysphagia. Patients with pneumonia had significantly longer median time (20.0 hr, range: 4.9-26.7) from speech-language pathology orders to completion of CSE, compared to those without pneumonia (13.2 hr, range: 3.2-22.4, p = .025). There was no significant difference in the median time from extubation to speech-language pathology consultation order time in patients with pneumonia versus those without pneumonia. Patients with pneumonia were observed to have prolonged, although not statistically significant, median time from extubation to CSE (70.4 hr, range: 21.2-215) compared to those without pneumonia (42.2 hr, range: 19.5-105.8, p = .066).

Patients without pneumonia in the postoperative period were observed to have shorter median time from extubation to speech-language pathology evaluation. Future studies are needed to further understand the impact of early speech-language pathology consultation and incidence of pneumonia in this population.