Factors associated with major electrolyte disorders among post cardiac surgery patients at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital and Cardiac Center Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Most patients undergoing cardiac surgery are at a greater risk of electrolyte disorders, which are important causes for ventricular and supra-ventricular arrhythmias as well as various other complications. Early identification of the common electrolyte disorder through serial monitoring is crucial during post-cardiac surgery periods.The aim was to assess the factors associated with major electrolyte disorders following cardiac surgery. A facility-based retrospective survey was conducted among 192 randomly selected patient records from a total of 352 cardiac surgical patients who underwent cardiac surgery between January 1st, 2016 to December 31st, 2020. The survey was conducted from February 01 to April 28, 2021. A structured data collection checklist tested for its reliability and content validity was adopted from similar studies to gather data. Data was entered and analyzed using statistical software, SPSS version 26.0. Descriptive statistics were used to describe participants’ characteristics and logistic regression was employed to examine the association between independent and outcome variables. The level of significance was determined at p-value < 0.05 and 95% CI.Participant's age ranged between 25 and 29 with a mean of 29.44 ± 12.02 SD years. Overall, 141 (73.4%) participants were found to have one or more major postoperative electrolyte disorders. Close to one third, 58 (30.2%) were Hyponatremic, 59 (30.7%), Hypokalemic and 58 (30.2%), Hypocalcemic. Furthermore, cardiac lesions such as Mitral stenosis and Tricuspid regurgitation were significantly associated with electrolyte disorders [AOR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.256–0.994] p-0.24, and [AOR = 4.5; 95% CI:1.49–13.9] p- 0.003 respectively. Mitral valve replacement was also significantly related with electrolyte disorders [AOR = 2.05 95% CI: 0.99–4.23] p-0.042.Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are at high risk of electrolyte disorders. Type of cardiac surgical procedure and type of cardiac lesions are significant predictors of electrolyte disorder. Careful monitoring and prompt correction of electrolytes will contribute to the prevention of postoperative electrolyte disorders in patients.