Clinical significance and determinants of the universal definition of perioperative bleeding classification in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery

Abstract

We evaluated the clinical significance and identified the predictors of the universal definition of perioperative bleeding (UDPB) classes in patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Data on antithrombotic medication, perioperative bleeding, blood transfusion, and adverse events were available for 2764 patients who had undergone isolated CABG. The Papworth risk score correlated significantly with the UDPB classes (rate of UDPB class 3-4 and Papworth risk score of 0, 12.1%; 1, 23.9%; 2, 37.5%; and 3, 45.0%; P<.0001). Ordinal regression showed that increased age, female sex, low body mass index, low estimated glomerular filtration rate, low hemoglobin, dialysis, urgent or emergency operation, critical status, on-pump surgery, potent antiplatelet drug pause of <5 days, and warfarin pause of <2 days were independent predictors of high UDPB classes. These risk factors also predicted UDPB classes 3-4 in logistic regression analysis. Increasing UDPB classes were associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality (P=.002), stroke (P=.023), low cardiac output (P<.0001), prolonged use of inotropes (P<.0001), renal replacement therapy (P<.0001), length of stay in the intensive care unit (P<.0001), and late mortality (P<.0001) as assessed by multilevel propensity score-adjusted analysis. Similar findings were observed in the propensity score-adjusted analysis for the most severe grades of perioperative bleeding (ie, UDPB class 3-4). High UDPB classes were associated with significantly poorer immediate and late outcomes. The UDPB classification seems to be a valuable research tool to estimate the severity of bleeding and its prognostic impact affect after coronary surgery.