Cardiac Catheterization and Outcomes for Elderly Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Geriatric Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Heart failure impacts over 6 million individuals in the US, with limited evidence supporting cardiac catheterization use.
• The benefits of cardiac catheterization in heart failure patients are largely based on expert opinion.
• This study addresses the need to assess the benefits and risks of cardiac catheterization in elderly heart failure admissions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the association between cardiac catheterization and in-hospital mortality in elderly heart failure patients.
• To determine the impact of cardiac catheterization on total hospital costs for older adults hospitalized with heart failure.
• To analyze the relationship between cardiac catheterization and length of hospital stay in geriatric heart failure admissions.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study design utilizing data from the National Inpatient Sample.
• Inclusion criteria comprised hospital admissions for heart failure in patients aged 65 years and older.
• Data spanned from 2008 to 2016, analyzing in-hospital mortality, total costs, and length of stay.

Main Results:

• Cardiac catheterization showed a protective association with in-hospital mortality (OR 0.87, P < .0001).
• The procedure was associated with an increased hospital length of stay by 2.88 days (P < .0001).
• Cardiac catheterization resulted in an approximate $16,255 increase in total hospital costs.

Conclusions:

• Cardiac catheterization in elderly heart failure patients (≥65 years) is associated with decreased in-hospital mortality.
• The findings indicate a longer length of stay and higher total costs associated with cardiac catheterization in this demographic.
• This study provides crucial data on the trade-offs of cardiac catheterization in older adults with heart failure.