The Australian population is rapidly ageing, and the number of patients aged 80 years and older presenting for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) is expected to increase. Studies investigating the outcomes of CABG in elderly patients are generally from single centres (eg. a particular hospital) and limited by small numbers and a lack of long-term follow up.
Our study aims to overcome these limitations by utilising the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) database to investigate the postoperative outcomes in this cohort of patients. The ANZSCTS database is a binational database that captures operative and postoperative data for all patients undergoing cardiac surgery in Australia and New Zealand.
The database currently collates data from 56 participating sites and will provide a large sample size to permit robust data analysis. This analysis of short and medium-term outcomes will be supplemented via linkage with the National Death Index to examine long-term survival. The overarching aim of this analysis is to explore the impact of cardiac surgery on octogenarians in both the short and long-term, and to identify risk factors that can assist with surgical risk stratification.
