Acute cardiac care & resuscitation
Variation in risk-adjusted cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) length of stay and the association with in-hospital mortality: An analysis from the Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network (CCCTN) registry
Authors' conclusion
In a large registry of academic CICUs, we observed significant variation in CICU LOS and report that LOS is independently associated with all-cause in-hospital mortality.
Study context
- Population
- Admissions to 35 academic CICUs in the CCCTN registry, 2017–2022
- Participants
- 22,862 admissions
- Exposure
- CICU length of stay (LOS) tertiles
- Outcome
- Inter-hospital differences in CICU LOS and association of CICU LOS with all-cause in-hospital mortality (Fine and Gray competing risk model)
Methodological detailsmulticentre, 35 primarily tertiary and quaternary CICUs, annual 2-month snapshots of consecutive admissions
- Multicentre
- 35 primarily tertiary and quaternary CICUs
- Annual 2-month snapshots of consecutive admissions
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
All-cause in-hospital mortality by CICU LOS tertile
- Median CICU LOS, days (IQR)
- 2.2 (1.1-4.8)
- Individual CICU LOS correlated with higher risk of 30-day in-hospital mortality (competing risk analysis)
- r2 = 0.31
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Hospital LOS
- Median hospital LOS, days (IQR)
- 5.9 (2.8-12.3)
LOS–mortality association in HF, STEMI and NSTEMI admissions (subgroups)
- Relationship remained significant
Original publication
Variation in risk-adjusted cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) length of stay and the association with in-hospital mortality: An analysis from the Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network (CCCTN) registry. Am Heart J. Published 16 February 2024. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it