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March 18, 2024
TOPLINE:
Emergency department (ED) visits among heart transplant (HT) recipients have increased over the past decade, with infection as the main diagnosis; however, the mortality rate remains low.
METHODOLOGY:
- The researchers identified 177,450 HT-related ED visits from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database between 2009 and 2018.
- The primary outcomes were the HT volume and primary diagnosis at ED visits, mortality rates and combined ED or associated hospitalizations, and total ED visit and hospitalization charges adjusted for inflation to $2017.
TAKEAWAY:
- Infection (23.6%) and gastrointestinal causes (11.3%) were the most common primary diagnoses at ED visits.
- The overall mortality rate was low at 1.6%, and the mortality rate for ED visits was 0.44%.
- The total ED visit and hospitalization charges were $13,304 per ED visit or hospitalization.
- There was no significant change in mortality, including that for both ED visits and hospitalizations, over the study period (P =.60).
- The increase in HT-related ED visits over the past decade corresponds to a concurrent increase in the incidence of HT.
IN PRACTICE:
HT-related ED visits have increased in the past decade, but mortality remains low, the authors concluded.
SOURCE:
This study, led by Luise Holzhauser, MD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
LIMITATIONS:
The retrospective study design may have introduced potential bias. Misclassification bias may be present due to ED diagnosis codes. A single patient may have been represented multiple times, and all comorbidities may not have been recorded. Additionally, the findings may have limited generalizability as the patients do not represent all the states.
DISCLOSURES:
This study was supported by the Cardiac Center Research Core at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Three authors received consulting fees or honoraria from various sources. The remaining authors disclosed no competing interests.
