Outcomes of coronary surgery at a Veterans Affairs hospital versus other hospitals.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to compare outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) operations at a VA hospital and non-VA hospitals.


METHODS
Using the 2004 Nationwide Inpatient Sample database, we identified 48,669 discharge records of patients who underwent CABG in non-VA hospitals and compared these patients' outcomes with those of 688 patients who underwent CABG at our VA hospital from 2002 to 2006. Student t- tests and chi(2) tests were used to identify significant intergroup differences.


RESULTS
The VA patients were slightly younger than the non-VA patients (62 +/- 8 versus 66 +/- 11 y, P < 0.0001). The VA patients also had a higher prevalence of prior myocardial infarction (60.6% versus 34.6%), congestive heart failure (38.2% versus 22.1%), peripheral vascular disease (25.9% versus 7.2%), cerebral vascular disease (23.4% versus 5.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (32.3% versus 16.6%), and diabetes (41.7% versus 29.7%) (P < 0.0001 for all). Nonetheless, the in-hospital mortality rate was significantly lower in VA patients than in non-VA patients (1.6% versus 3.0%, P = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the higher prevalence of comorbidities, patients who underwent CABG at a VA hospital had a significantly lower mortality rate than CABG patients in non-VA hospitals.
Choi
Justin C
JC
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Bakaeen
Faisal G
FG
Huh
Joseph
J
Dao
Tam K
TK
LeMaire
Scott A
SA
Coselli
Joseph S
JS
Chu
Danny
D
D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011787:Quality of Health Care