Original article
Adult cardiac
Survival and Quality of Life for Nonagenarians After Cardiac Surgery

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2013.02.034Get rights and content

Background

Reports of cardiac surgery in the elderly have focused primarily on septuagenarians and octogenarians. There are very limited data regarding risk-adjusted models in nonagenarians.

Methods

From 1983 to 2011, patients with age 90 years or greater at the time of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or valve surgery (aortic or mitral) were retrieved from a prospective institutional database. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine significant predictors of 5-year survival. In addition, a 12-month assessment of quality of life was conducted.

Results

The CABG-only (n = 46), valve-only (n = 55), or CABG-valve (n = 53) surgery was conducted in 154 patients. Demographic characteristics were similar in all groups except for congestive heart failure, which was more prominent in the valve-only or CABG-valve groups (p < 0.0001). The 30-day mortality was 8.8%, 12.8%, and 18.9% in the CABG-only, valve-only, and CABG-valve groups, respectively, without significant difference among groups (p = 0.35). At 5-years follow-up, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves do not show a difference among groups (p = 0.62). Cox proportional hazard model for 5-year survival identified age (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.25, confidence interval [CI] 1.09 to 1.43, p = 0.001, for 1-year increase), prior surgery (HR = 2.23, CI 1.23 to 4.64, p = 0.007), and prior stroke (HR = 2.39, CI 1.25 to 3.98, p = 0.01), as significant predictors of mortality. The 12-month quality of life questionnaire revealed an improvement in 83% of the patients, whereas only 4% reported a decline in cardiac status.

Conclusions

Survival in nonagenarians is comparable after CABG or valve surgery. Redo surgery, stroke, and increasing age are significant hazards for mortality. Nonagenarians can undergo cardiac surgery with acceptable mortality and quality of life.

Section snippets

Study Population

The Cardiothoracic Surgery Quality Assurance Database at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, was queried to identify all patients 90 years of age or older who underwent open-heart surgery from 1983 to 2011. Three surgical categories were defined as the following: isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG-only); isolated aortic or mitral valve repair or replacement (valve-only), and combined CABG with aortic or mitral valve repair or replacement (CABG-valve). All patients

Results

From 1983 to 2011, a total of 154 patients 90 years of age or greater underwent open-heart surgery. The mean age was 91.4 years (range, 90 to 97 years), 40.9% (63 of 154) were women, the mean EF was 0.518 (interquartile range [IQR] 40.0% to 60.1%), 11.7% (18 of 154) had diabetes, 19.5% (30 of 154) had renal insufficiency (creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL), 62.3% (96 of 154) had hypertension, 62.3% (96 of 154) had CHF, 9.1% (14 of 154) had a history of CVA, and 14.9% (23 of 154) had a history of prior

Comment

The present study reports the largest single-center experience of cardiac surgery in nonagenarians, presenting early and long-term outcomes, quality of life data, and a risk model of long-term survival. Lichtman and colleagues [8], using the Medicare Provider Analysis and Report (MedPAR) file, analyzed the trends and outcomes of 4,224 nonagenarian patients undergoing CABG. However, administrative databases commonly lack essential clinical information to develop reliable risk models, and

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