[Analysis of in-hospital mortality from coronary artery bypass grafting surgery].

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Outcomes research and monitoring are of key importance in efforts to improve health care effectiveness and quality. The aim of this study was to describe in-hospital mortality from coronary artery bypass grafting in Spain. Data in an administrative database were used to estimate the statistical performance of two risk-adjustment methods, the Charlson and Ghali indexes. PATIENTS AND METHOD From the Spanish Hospital Minimum Basic Data Set corresponding to 1997 and 1998 all records which included a code for coronary artery bypass grafting were selected. With in-hospital mortality as the outcome variable, two risk-adjusted logistic multiple regression models were constructed. RESULTS The database included 13,203 cases, of which 80% were men; mean age was 64.5 years. In-hospital mortality was 7.3%. The figure was significantly higher for women and increased with age. A score of one on the Charlson and Ghali indexes was associated, respectively, with a 23 and 20% increase in the risk of mortality. Probability calculated with the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test was 0.765 and 0.965, and the C index was 0.66 and 0.67. Values of Nagelkerke's R2 were 0.051 y 0.058. CONCLUSIONS In-hospital mortality from coronary artery bypass grafting is much higher in Spain than in other countries. The Minimum Basic Data Set, a low-cost information system that is easy to access, yields interesting and useful information to measure health care quality.