Recovery patterns and health-related quality of life in older patients undergoing cardiac surgery: a prospective study

Bupivacaine infiltration for acute postoperative pain management after cardiac surgery

BACKGROUND

Despite increased attention, acute and persistent post-operative pain are not treated efficiently and interventions against acute pain are therefore of clinical importance and should be welcomed.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effectiveness of wound infiltration with 0.5% bupivacaine for pain management in the immediate post-operative period in patients that underwent cardiac surgery with sternotomy.

DESIGN

The study was performed employing a single-centre nonrandomized experimental design to evaluate a prospective cohort of patients recruited from June to December of 2017.

METHODS

A single-centre study with a non-randomized experimental design compared the pain perceived by 137 patients undergoing to cardiac surgery within which 68 patients who received infiltration of bupivacaine and 69 patients received infiltration with saline solution. Pain measures were made with the numeric rating scale (NRS) at 2, 12, 24, and 48 hours. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were included too and descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS

A statistically significant difference was found between the means of the NRS scores in favour of the intervention group. Cohen's d showed a significant effect size. NRS scores were grouped into NRS ≥4 or NRS <4 and similar results were found. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed the absence of confounding factors that could call results into question.

CONCLUSION

Subcutaneous infiltration of 0.5% bupivacaine in the surgical site of patients who have undergone cardiac surgery showed clinically and statistically significant pain relief compared with patients who received saline infiltration throughout the first 12 hours after surgery. This intervention provides promising preliminary results that, alone or in conjunction with other nursing interventions, could constitute an important therapeutic tool for this area of nursing clinical practice.

Effect of Cardiac Surgery on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Aged 75 Years or Older: A Prospective Study

BACKGROUND

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients, aged 75 years or older, was measured before and at 12 weeks after cardiac surgery using a generic tool (SF12 version 2).

METHODS

This was a single centre, prospective study of patients aged 75 years or older who had any type of cardiac surgery. The instrument was self-administered preoperatively and by interviewer administered via telephone at 12 weeks.

RESULTS

Sixty-six (66) of the 81 participants approached were eligible and agreed to participate. Mean age was 79.2 years, 17 participants were female (25.8%), 56 participants were New Zealand European (84.8%) and the mean Euroscore II score was 4.0. Sixty (60) participants (90.9%) provided data at follow-up. All mean HRQoL domain scores significantly improved by 12 weeks after surgery. The pattern of gain was similar for ages 75-79 and 80 years and older. The changes in the physical and mental component summary (PCS, MCS) scores were statistically significant and the mean scores were proximate to or better than age group norms at 12 weeks. The number of patients with a PCS score at or above age group norms improved from 16.4% to 56.6% while the number of patients whose MCS scores were at or above age group norms improved from 55.7% to 81.6%. Health utility values also significantly improved.

CONCLUSIONS

Cardiac surgery in older patients is associated with significantly improved physical and mental health-related quality of life at 12 weeks after procedure.

Factors related to the evolution of Health Related Quality of Life in coronary patients. A longitudinal approach using Weighted Generalized Estimating Equations with missing data

BACKGROUND

The aim is to know the factors related to the evolution of Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) in Coronary Patients (CP) from a longitudinal perspective using an appropriate method that handles missing data adequately when the mechanism of missingness is uncertain.

METHODS

Prospective study with repeated measures at baseline, 3 and 6months. 250 patients with acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina were studied. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected at baseline. Mental health (GHQ-28) and HRQL (SF-36v1) were assessed during the follow-up. The missingness mechanism was tested. Friedman test and partial eta-squared were used to analyse changes in SF-36 scores and WGEE were used to identify the predictors of the evolution of HRQL.

RESULTS

95 dropped out after 3months and 72 after 6months. The missingness was likely to be at random. All the dimensions of the SF-36 improved over time, except PF. The factors related to the evolution of HRQL were: being woman (B=-23.9 in RE; B=-6.9 in MCS), older age (B=-0.5 in BP; B=-0.3 in VT), being single/separated (B=-14.5 in GH; B=-14.1 in SF; B=-23.3 in MH) and widow(er) (B=-23.2 PF; B=-29.8 in SF), hypertensive (B=-19.8 in RP; B=-8.9 in VT), worse mental health (B=-3 in PF; B=-2.8 in RP; B=-3.1 in BP; B=-1.2 in PCS; B=-3.8 in VT; B=-2.6 in SF), previous history of CHD (B=-12.5 in PF; B=-5.2 in PCS), and performing heart-healthy physical activities (B=13.9 in PF).

CONCLUSIONS

HRQL improves over time. A global approach, including age, marital status, performing physical activities or hypertension, is required to improve HRQL in CP.

Longevity and admission to nursing home according to age after isolated coronary artery bypass surgery: a nationwide cohort study

OBJECTIVES

Data on nursing home admission in patient's ≥80 years after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate longevity and subsequent admission to a nursing home stratified by age in a nationwide CABG cohort.

METHODS

All patients who underwent isolated CABG from 1996 to 2012 in Denmark were identified through nationwide registers. The cumulative incidence of admission to a nursing home after CABG was estimated. A Cox regression model was constructed to identify predictors for living in a nursing home 1 year after CABG. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used for survival analysis. Subanalysis on home care usage was performed in the period 2008-2012.

RESULTS

A total of 38 487 patients were included. The median age was 65.4 ± 9.5 years (1455 > 80 years) and 80% were males. The 30-day mortality rate was 2.8%, increasing with age (1.2% in patients <60 years and 7.8% in patients ≥80 years). The mortality rate at 1 year was 2.2% among patients aged <60 and 14.1% among patients ≥80 years. At the 1-year follow-up, 4.2% of patients <60 years, 7.9% of patients 60-70 years, 14.4% of patients 70-74 years, 18.5% of patients 75-79 years and 29.1% of patients ≥80 years had received home care. The proportion of patients admitted to a nursing home at 1, 5 and 10 years after CABG was 0.1, 0.4 and 1.0% (<60 years), and 1.4, 7.5 and 16.8% (≥80 years), respectively. Main predictors for living in a nursing home 1 year postoperatively were: age ≥80 years [hazard ratio (HR) 17.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 7.4-42.8], female sex (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.6), previous heart failure (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0-2.4), previous myocardial infarction (HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.3-3.2) and previous stroke (HR 3.3, 95% CI 2.1-4.9). Neither urgent nor emergency surgeries were significant predictors for living in a nursing home 1 year postoperatively.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of all patients selected for CABG surgery in Denmark between 1996-2012, including the elderly, were able to live independently at home without the need of home care for many years after CABG. The risk of nursing home admission was small and dependent on the patient's age, sex and preoperative comorbidities.