Vasoactive-inotropic score and the prediction of morbidity and mortality after cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND

The vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) predicts mortality and morbidity after paediatric cardiac surgery. Here we examined whether VIS also predicted outcome in adults after cardiac surgery, and compared predictive capability between VIS and three widely used scoring systems.

METHODS

This single-centre retrospective cohort study included 3213 cardiac surgery patients. Maximal VIS (VIS) was calculated using the highest doses of vasoactive and inotropic medications administered during the first 24 h post-surgery. We established five VIS categories: 0-5, >5-15, >15-30, >30-45, and >45 points. The predictive accuracy of VIS was evaluated for a composite outcome, which included 30-day mortality, mediastinitis, stroke, acute kidney injury, and myocardial infarction.

RESULTS

VIS showed good prediction accuracy for the composite outcome [area under the curve (AUC), 0.72; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69-0.75]. The incidence of the composite outcome was 9.6% overall and 43% in the highest VIS group (>45). VIS predicted 30-day mortality (AUC, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.83) and 1-yr mortality (AUC, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.65-0.74). Prediction accuracy for unfavourable outcome was significantly better with VIS than with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (P=0.01) and Simplified Acute Physiological Score II (P=0.048), but not with the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (P=0.32).

CONCLUSIONS

In adults after cardiac surgery, VIS predicted a composite of unfavourable outcomes and predicted mortality up to 1 yr after surgery.