Factors influencing hospital stay duration in an elective cardiac surgery cohort
Authors: Verdugo Marchese M , Gunga Z , Ltaief Z , Nowacka A , Melly V , Lavanchy L , Carel D , Hennemann M , Tozzi P , Niclauss L , Carreira Augusto V , Dulguerov F , Scopetani G , Rancati V , Kirsch M 
Published: October 2024

Cardiac surgery has become more complex in recent years, with increases in patient age, complexity, and associated costs. The use of a multidisciplinary strategy to analyze and standardize patient management offers significant benefits. The development of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programs has proven useful in various types of surgery, recently including cardiac surgery, yielding good results.

One of the primary objectives of ERAS programs is the reduction of the Inpatients' length of stay (LOS), with the subsequent improvement in the patient experience and a reduction in costs.

The aim of this study is to analyze preoperative and postoperative factors related to the LOS reduction in a cohort of elective cardiac surgery patients included in the Cardiac ERAS program at our hospital.

All patients included in the ERAS program, corresponding to elective cardiac surgery, were included in the analysis. 138 patients were divided into four quartiles based on the inpatient’s LOS. An extensive search was conducted in our quality control database, which contains 470 variables on the factors more strongly associated with LOS.

The results were analyzed using Chi-Square test for categorical and the Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables, generally of non-normal distribution.

The results are summarized in the table. Age, poor mobility, surgery other than coronary bypass, and reoperation were the non-modifiable factors most associated with a prolonged LOS. Lower preoperative hemoglobin and albumin levels were associated with an increase in LOS. A class 3 or 4 NYHA functional class, chronic pulmonary disease, and anticoagulation use were associated with higher LOS. Classic cardiovascular risk factors, such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, and tobacco use, were not associated with differences in hospitalization duration.

Postoperative and intraoperative factors associated with higher LOS included extubation in the operating room or within six hours, ICU stay duration, mobilization on postoperative days one and two, time to oral food tolerance and gut motility recovery, hyperglycemia on postoperative day one, the duration of arterial, venous, and urinary catheters, the amount of fluids on postoperative day one and the opioid use in POD 2.

The complications most associated with a prolonged duration were any infectious complication, any respiratory complication, reoperation, readmission to intensive care, transfusion after 12 hours or at any time during hospitalization, prolonged postoperative sedation, and any rhythmic complication.

Conclusion

In our cohort of elective patients for cardiac surgery, factors traditionally addressed by ERAS programs were identified as being associated with a longer inpatient’s length of stay. Pre-operative nutritional and anemia optimization, early extubation and mobilization, and the prevention of respiratory and infectious complications should be targeted to improve hospital stay duration.