Preliminary study of factors that influence the length of stays in intensive care unit and hospital after open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background : Factors indicated length of intensive care unit and hospital might be useful for improving ICU management.

Objective : To identify factors that influence ICU and hospital stays after open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Design : Retrospective descriptive study.

Methods : Adult patients who underwent elective open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass in 2009 were recruited population. Medical records were reviewed in terms of pre-operative conditions (patient characteristics, underlying diseases and laboratory data) and intraoperative events (type of operation, anesthetic technique, cardiopulmonary bypass time and aortic cross-clamp time). Multiple regressions were analyzed for identifying possible influenced factors.

Results : In total of 217 patients, the mean lengths of ICU and hospital stays were 3.94 ± 7.93 days and 20.06 ± 17.52 days respectively. The significant factors influenced the length of ICU stay were age > 70 years and pre-operative WBC count > 10,000 cells/cm³. The length of hospital stay was found to be influenced only by pre-operative WBC counts > 10,000 cells/cm³.

Discussion : The factor that significantly influenced to the lengths of ICU and hospital stays was the preoperative WBC level > 10,000 cell/mm3, in which these findings might imply significance of SIRS. Another significant factor that was age > 70 years (more than 30% of patients) should be noticed in order to plan for future ICU management.

Conclusion : Two significant factors influenced ICU and hospital stays were preoperative WBC level > 10,000 cell/mm3 and patient age > 70 years.