Risk factors of intraabdominal hypertension in cardiac surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

In this review, we discuss the risk factors of intraabdominal hypertension developing after cardiac surgery.

We used records from electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Ovid) between 1980 and 2025. All studies in which possible pre- and intraoperative risk factors (age, sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, lung disease, coronary artery bypass grafting, body mass index and, cardiopulmonary bypass duration) were recorded were included in the analysis. The results of the studies were evaluated with a random or fixed effect model depending on the presence of heterogeneity (I² >25%).

A total of 4,286 articles were found from the database search. After analyzing the abstract and full texts, six articles which met the inclusion criteria and covered 696 patients were included in the analysis. The overall rate of intraabdominal hypertension was 44.68%. Age (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.303, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.123-0.484, p<0.001), hypertension (odds ratio [OR]=0.524, 95% CI: 0.087-0.960, p=0.019), body mass index (SMD: 0.532, 95% CI: 0.004-1.061, p=0.048), and cardiopulmonary bypass duration (SMD: 0.545, 95% CI: 0.184-0.907, p=0.003) were preoperative risk factors.

The patient's age, hypertension, body mass index, and duration of cardiopulmonary bypass are the risk factors for the development of intraabdominal hypertension after cardiac surgery. However, larger studies are needed to avoid heterogeneity of results.