Postoperative hypoalbuminemia is associated with outcome in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE

The authors aimed to investigate whether immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia could be associated with outcomes after off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCAB) surgery.

DESIGN

A retrospective analysis of the medical data.

SETTING

Cardiac operating room and adult cardiovascular intensive care unit at a single institution.

PARTICIPANTS

Six hundred ninety adult patients underwent elective OPCAB surgery over a 30-month period.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

To evaluate the clinical relevance of immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia, the lowest serum albumin level measured over the first 12 hours postoperatively was recorded. A cutoff point was calculated by the area under the curve in the receiver operating characteristic plot for 30-day adverse events including death. Patients were classified according to the cutoff value, and outcomes were compared between groups using propensity score-matching analysis. The impact of immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia on OPCAB outcome was investigated using multivariate analysis. The cutoff value for immediate postoperative albumin concentration for predicting 30-day adverse events was 2.3 g/dL. Immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia (<2.3 g/dL) was associated independently with postoperative respiratory failure (odds ratio [OR] = 8.85, p = 0.04), wound infection (OR = 4.44, p = 0.04), the need for an intra-aortic balloon pump after the operation (OR = 13.7, p = 0.02), renal failure (OR = 7.98, p = 0.01), reoperation for bleeding (OR = 4.33, p = 0.05), and the need for inotropes in the intensive care unit (OR = 1.79, p = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia was associated with poorer outcomes in OPCAB patients. Monitoring of albumin levels after OPCAB could identify patients at risk for short-term adverse events.