Prolonged Inotrope Use After Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease: A Common Occurrence with a High Burden of Mortality

Outcomes in patients requiring prolonged inotropes (PI) following surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) have not been well studied. We aimed to describe the burden of PI use in the immediate postoperative period after CHD surgery and identify risk factors for in-hospital mortality. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Pediatric Health Information System® (PHIS) database. Patients 0–18 years with CHD who underwent cardiovascular surgery from 2010 to 2020 were included. Patients who received inotropic medications for > 7 consecutive days after surgery were in the PI group and all others in the control group. Patients who died before 7 days were excluded. Multivariable mixed-effect logistic regression was used to examine risk factors for in-hospital mortality. There were 110,271 patients from 48 centers included, 10,292 in the PI group and 99,979 in the control group. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher in the PI group (24.9% vs. 4.6%, p < 0.001). Ventricular assist device use was rare (1.6%). After adjustment, odds of in-hospital mortality in the PI group was 3.5 (95% CI 3.3–3.8) times higher than in controls. Independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality were age, non-White race, class of CHD, number of complex chronic conditions, preoperative inotrope, preoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, sepsis, stroke, renal failure, number of inotropes at 7 days, and discharge year (p < 0.01 for all). Postoperative PI use in CHD is common and carries a considerable burden of mortality. Additional work is needed to understand which risk factors are modifiable and which patients may benefit from reintervention or advanced heart failure therapies.