ABSTRACT
Although renal function may improve after left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) implantation, acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring hemodialysis (HD) therapy can occur postoperatively. We used data from the National Readmissions Database to calculate annual rates of in-hospital outcomes and readmissions among patients who underwent implantation and developed acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring hemodialysis (HD) for years 2012-2015. We identified 178 (weighted 469) patients with AKI requiring HD after LVAD implantation. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher among LVAD recipients who required HD for AKI compared with those who did not (42.38% vs. 8.38%, p < 0.001). Rates of in-hospital mortality (from 52.1% in 2012 to 33.9% in 2014, p = 0.046) and length of stay (from 60.3 days in 2012 to 47.1 days in 2014, p = 0.003) decreased significantly, whereas there was a trend toward reduced hospital cost (from $320,414 in 2012 to $267,285 in 2014, p = 0.076) during the study period. However, postoperative bleeding increased significantly (p = 0.01). Acute kidney injury requiring HD after implantation was not associated with significantly higher rates of readmissions compared with LVAD recipients without AKI on HD, after adjustment for clinical and hospital characteristics (41.4% vs. 30.5%; odds ratio 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.85-1.95; P = 0.239). However, 5.42% of these patients required maintenance hemodialysis in readmissions. In-hospital mortality and length of stay are decreasing but remain unacceptably high in patients requiring HD for AKI after LVAD implantation but remain higher than LVAD recipients without AKI on HD. A minority of these patients who survive hospital discharge require maintenance hemodialysis.
Subject(s)
Acute Kidney Injury/therapy , Heart-Assist Devices/adverse effects , Patient Readmission/statistics & numerical data , Patient Readmission/trends , Acute Kidney Injury/etiology , Female , Heart Failure/surgery , Hospital Mortality/trends , Humans , Male , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Postoperative Complications/mortality , Renal Dialysis/mortality , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Left ventricular dysfunction triggers the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, providing inotropic support to the failing heart and concomitantly increasing the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). The cardiovascular effects of cannabis have been characterized as biphasic on the autonomic nervous system with an increased sympathetic effect at low doses and an inhibitory sympathetic activity at higher doses. It is unknown if the autonomic effect of cannabis impacts the occurrence of AF in patients with heart failure (HF). We used data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-National Inpatient Sample for patients admitted with a diagnosis of HF in 2014. The outcome variable was the diagnosis of AF, with the main exposure being cannabis use. We identified a cannabis user group and a 1:1 propensity-matched non-cannabis user group, each having 3,548 patients. We then estimated the odds of AF diagnosis in cannabis users. An estimated 3,950,392 patients were admitted with a diagnosis of HF in the United States in 2014. Among these, there were 17,755 (0.45%) cannabis users. In the matched cohort, cannabis users were less likely to have AF (19.08% vs 21.39%; AOR 0.87 [0.77 to 0.98]). In conclusion, cannabis users have lower odds of AF when compared with nonusers, which was not explained by co-morbid conditions, age, insurance type, and socioeconomic status.
