Cumulative incidence for wait-list death in relation to length of queue for coronary-artery bypass grafting: a cohort study

BACKGROUND In deciding where to undergo coronary-artery bypass grafting, the length of surgical wait lists is often the only information available to cardiologists and their patients. Our objective was to compare the cumulative incidence for death on the wait list according to the length of wait lists at the time of registration for the operation. METHODS The study cohort included 8966 patients who registered to undergo isolated coronary-artery bypass grafting (82.4% men; 71.9% semi-urgent; 22.4% non-urgent). The patients were categorized according to wait-list clearance time at registration: either "1 month or less" or "more than 1 month". Cumulative incidence for wait-list death was compared between the groups, and the significance of difference was tested by means of regression models. RESULTS Urgent patients never registered on a wait list with a clearance time of more than 1 month. Semi-urgent patients registered on shorter wait lists more often than non-urgent patients (79.1% vs. 44.7%). In semi-urgent and non-urgent patients, the observed proportion of wait-list deaths by 52 weeks was lower in category "1 month or less" than in category "more than 1 month" (0.8% [49 deaths] vs. 1.6% [39 deaths], P < 0.005). After adjustment, the odds of death before surgery were 64% higher in patients on longer lists, odds ratio [OR] = 1.64 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-2.63). The observed death rate was higher in category "more than 1 month" than in category "1 month or less", 0.79 (95%CI 0.54-1.04) vs. 0.58 (95% CI 0.42-0.74) per 1000 patient-weeks, the adjusted OR = 1.60 (95%CI 1.01-2.53). Longer wait times (log-rank test = 266.4, P < 0.001) and higher death rates contributed to a higher cumulative incidence for death on the wait list with a clearance time of more than 1 month. CONCLUSION Long wait lists for coronary-artery bypass grafting are associated with increased probability that a patient dies before surgery. Physicians who advise patients where to undergo cardiac revascularization should consider the risk of pre-surgical death that is associated with the length of a surgical wait list.