title: Cardiac surgical patients are not the same. But who knows that: the patient, the cardiologist or the surgeon?
abstract: Nowadays, outcome measures get published following risk adjustment; mortality rates are adjusted for risks to give a picture of the performance of a surgeon or a unit. The risk factors associated with in-hospital death are likely to reflect concurrent disease-specific variables. Factors associated with increased resource utilisation (as measured by length of stay) reflect serious co-morbid illness. The various models are effective at predicting population behaviour, but not necessarily suited for predicting individual outcomes. Further work needs to be done both to explain the differences in risk factors seen between the various risk stratification models and to determine which models are best suited in clinical practice. This document reviews the current evidence and risk stratification tools currently employed in cardiac surgery practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Victoria Hospital, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BA, UK, hparissis@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Haralabos
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Parissis
authors.forename: Bassel
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Al-Alao
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000401:mortality* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015897:Comorbidity; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome