• Roger Baskett, Karen Buth, William Ghali, Colleen Norris, Tony Maas, Andrew Maitland, David Ross, Rand Forgie, and Gregory Hirsch.
• Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.
• CMAJ. 2005 Apr 26;172(9):1183-6.

BackgroundAlthough octogenarians are being referred for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with increasing frequency, contemporary outcomes have not been well described. We examined data from 4 Canadian centres to determine outcomes of CABG in this age group.MethodsData for the years 1996 to 2001 were examined in a comparison of octogenarians with patients less than 80 years of age. Logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for preoperative factors and to generate adjusted rates of mortality and postoperative stroke.ResultsA total of 15,070 consecutive patients underwent isolated CABG during the study period. Overall, 725 (4.8%) were 80 years of age or older, the proportion increasing from 3.8% in 1996 to 6.2% in 2001 (p for linear trend = 0.03). The crude rate of death was higher among the octogenarians (9.2% v. 3.8%; p < 0.001), as was the rate of stroke (4.7% v. 1.6%, p < 0.001). The octogenarians had a significantly greater burden of comorbid conditions and more urgent presentation at surgery. After adjustment, the octogenarians remained at greater risk for in-hospital death (odds ratio [OR] 2.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.95-3.57) and stroke (OR 3.25, 95% CI 2.15-4.93). Mortality declined over time for both age groups (p for linear trend < 0.001 for both groups), but the incidence of postoperative stroke did not change (p for linear trend = 0.61 [age < 80 years] and 0.08 [age > or = 80 years]). Octogenarians who underwent elective surgery had crude and adjusted rates of death (OR 1.31, 95% CI 0.60-2.90) and stroke (OR 1.59, 95% CI 0.57-4.44) that were higher than but not significantly different from those for non-octogenarians who underwent elective surgery.InterpretationIn this study, rates of death and stroke were higher among octogenarians, although the adjusted differences in mortality over time were decreasing. The rate of adverse outcomes in association with elective surgery was similar for older and younger patients.

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