Is social deprivation an independent predictor of outcome following cardiac surgery? An analysis of 240,221 patients from a national registry

GENERAL COMMENTS Barnard and colleges undertake a retrospective analysis of a national cohort of nearly a quarter of a million patients who received cardiothoracic surgery between 2003 and 2013. The authors suggest that socio-economic status (SES), quantified using the Index of Multiple Deprivation composite score, is associated with both early and late all-cause mortality. The authors note that SES is not routinely accounted for when considering variation in mortality rates from cardiothoracic surgery, and suggest that because IMD predicts outcome, this Index could be considered in future provider performance analyses.