Hospital infections and health-related quality of life after cardiac surgery: a multicenter survey.

BACKGROUND: Recent research suggested that hospital infections are a predictive marker for physical non-recovery one year after cardiothoracic surgery. The purpose of this study was to explore whether this risk factor is etiologic. Additional, the influence of a potential effect modifying factor, diabetes mellitus, was investigated. METHODS: In this multicenter study, patients underwent elective or urgent cardiothoracic surgery between 01-01-2015 and 31-12-2019, and completed pre- and one year post-operative Short Form Health Survey 36/12 quality of life questionnaires. A binary logistic regression model, in which the inverse of the propensity score for infection risk was included as a weight variable, was used. Second, this analysis was stratified for diabetes mellitus status. RESULTS: 8577 patients were included. After weighing for the propensity score, the standardized mean differences of all variables decreased and indicated sufficient balance between the infection and non-infection groups. Hospital infections were found to be a risk factor for non-recovery after cardiothoracic surgery in the original and imputed dataset before weighting. However, after propensity score weighing, hospital infections did not remain significantly associated with recovery (OR for recovery = 0.79; 95% CI [0.60-1.03]; p = 0.077). No significant interaction between diabetes mellitus and hospital infections on recovery was found (p = 0.845). CONCLUSIONS: This study could not convincingly establish hospital infections as an etiologic risk factor for non-improvement of physical recovery in patients who underwent cardiothoracic surgery. In addition, there was no differential effect of hospital infections on non-improvement of physical recovery for patients with and without diabetes mellitus. Trial registration International Clinical Trials Registry Platform ID NL9818; date of registration, 22-10-2021 ( https://trialsearch.who.int/ ).

Determinants of non-recovery in physical health-related quality of life one year after cardiac surgery: a prospective single Centre observational study.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies show that substantial percentage of patients experienced worsening of health related quality of life (HRQoL) 1 year after cardiac surgery. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors that interfere with improvement of HRQoL. METHODS: From December 2015 till July 2017 a prospective single centre observational study was carried out in 1920 patients participated who underwent non-salvage cardiac surgery. All patients were requested to complete a Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire before and 1 year after surgery. Primary aim of the study was to identify risk factors for non-recovery in the physical domain of the SF-36 in all cardiac surgery patients. Secondary aim was to identify identical risk factors in patients with isolated coronary artery bypass grafting. RESULTS: After cardiac surgery, the questionnaires for physical and mental health were completed by respectively 803 and 807 patients. Median age was 69[62-75] years, and 77% was male. In comparison to the preoperative status, 176 patients (21.9%) did not display an improvement in the SF-36 physical domain score 1 year after cardiac surgery. In a multivariate analysis independent risk factors for non-recovery in the SF-36 physical domain were baseline SF36 physical domain score (OR 0.954[0.942-0.965], P < 0.001), diabetes (OR 0.437 [0.265-0.720], P 0.001), female sex (OR 0.492 [0.307-0.789], P 0.003), post-operative infection (OR 0.240 [0.109-0.525], P < 0.001) and PCI within 1 year (OR 0.113 [0.036-0.349], P < 0.001) For isolated CABG, 23.2% of patients did not display an improvement in the physical domain score and risk factors appeared to be identical. CONCLUSIONS: Twenty two percent of all cardiac surgery patients did not show an improvement in the physical domain score of the HRQoL between the preoperative period and 1 year after surgery. Independent risk factors for non-recovery after cardiac surgery were baseline SF-36 physical domain score, diabetes, female sex, any postoperative infection and the need for PCI in the first year. Further research is needed to tailor the patient selection procedure prior to surgery and potentially modify risk factors in the perioperative process. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Due to type of study not applicable. https://www.ccmo.nl/metcs/erkende-metcs/regionale-toetsingscommissie-patientgebonden-onderzoek .

Effects of cell-saving devices and filters on transfusion in cardiac surgery: a multicenter randomized study.

BACKGROUND: Cell-saving devices (CS) are frequently used in cardiac surgery to reduce transfusion requirements, but convincing evidence from randomized clinical trials is missing. Filtration of salvaged blood in combination with the CS is widely used to improve the quality of retransfused blood, but there are no data to justify this approach. METHODS: To determine the contribution of CS and filters on transfusion requirements, we performed a multicenter factorial randomized clinical trial in two academic and four nonacademic hospitals. Patients undergoing elective coronary, valve, or combined surgical procedures were included. The primary end point was the number of allogeneic blood products transfused in each group during hospital admission. RESULTS: From 738 included patients, 716 patients completed the study (CS+filter, 175; CS, 189; filter, 175; neither CS nor filter, 177). There was no significant effect of CS or filter on the total number of blood products (fraction [95% confidence interval]: CS, 0.96 [0.79, 1.18]; filter, 1.17 [0.96, 1.43]). Use of a CS significantly reduced red blood cell transfusions within 24 hours (0.75 [0.61,0.92]), but not during hospital stay (0.86 [0.71, 1.05]). Use of a CS was significantly associated with increased transfusions of fresh frozen plasma (1.39 [1.04, 1.86]), but not with platelets (1.25 [0.93, 1.68]). Use of a CS significantly reduced the percentage of patients who received any transfusion (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 0.67 [0.49, 0.91]), whereas filters did not (0.92 [0.68, 1.25]). CONCLUSIONS: Use of a CS, with or without a filter, does not reduce the total number of allogeneic blood products, but reduces the percentage of patients who need blood products during cardiac surgery.