Outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting in old patients with diabetes

Abstract

Objective The risk for coronary artery bypass surgery is reported to be increased with age and associated with diabetes. We examined the outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with diabetes who were older than 70 years of age and evaluate the effect of diabetes on CABG in those patients. Methods From March 2000 to March 2008, the data of 649 patients older than 70 years of age were collected retrospectively and divided into diabetic group or non-diabetic group based on pre-operative diagnosis. The blood glucose level of patients was maintained between 7.0 mmol/L ( 126mg/dl) and 10.0 mmoL/L ( 180 mg/dl) porioporatively. Stats 7.0 was used for statistical analysis. The t test and χ~2 test were used to determine the differences in the numerical variables and categorical variables respectively. Results No statistical differences were observed between the two groups in the baseline variables, such as age [ ( 74.78±3.67 ) years for diabetic group vs. ( 75.00±3.65 ) years for non-diabetic group, P = 0. 4877 ], female patients ( 34.76% vs. 29.22%, P =0. 1663 ), ejection fraction [ ( 57.02±10. 10 ) % vs. ( 58.49±10. 39 ) %, P = 0. 1004 ) ], myocardial infarction history (26.20% vs. 28.35%, P =0. 5795), though there were more left main diseases in the diabetic group (52.41% vs.26.41%, diabetic vs. non-diabetic, P = 0. 0000 ). The overall in-hospital mortality was 6.32% (8.02% in the diabetic group vs. 5.63% in the non-diabetic group, P = 0. 2571 ). The main causes of death were sudden respiratory and cardiac arrest,low cardiac output syndrome ( LCOS), malignant arrhythmia, respiratory failure, renal failure, central nervous system compli-cations, and multiple organ failure. Major post-operative complications were bleeding, atrial fibrillation, plural effusion and pulmonary infection. Post-operative variables, such as EF (0.59±0. 13 in the diabetic group vs. 0. 61±0.15 in the non-dia-betie group, P =0. 1807), re-revascularization due to bleeding (2. 14% vs. 4.76%, P = 0. 1232), blood transfusion (89.84% vs. 84.63%, P = 0.0820) and the administration of vasoactive agent (21.93% vs. 27.71%, P= 0. 1286),were found no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion Conclusions The early outcomes of CABG in aged patients are acceptable. The surgical consequences in diabetic patients may be similar to those in non-diabetic patients. Key words: Coronary artery bypass; Diabetes mellitus; Prognosis