Acute Risk Change for Cardiothoracic Admissions to Intensive Care (ARCTIC index): a new measure of quality in cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND Quality of cardiac surgical care may vary between institutions. Mortality is low and large numbers are required to discriminate between hospitals. Measures other than mortality may provide better comparisons. OBJECTIVES To develop and assess the Acute Risk Change for Cardiothoracic Admissions to Intensive Care (ARCTIC) index, a new performance measure for cardiothoracic admissions to intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS The Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons database and Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database were linked. Logistic regression was used to generate a predicted risk of death first from preoperative data using the previously validated Allprocscore and second on admission to an ICU using Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III score. Change in risk as a percentage (ARCTIC) was calculated for each patient. The validity of ARCTIC as a marker of quality was assessed by comparison with intraoperative variables and postoperative morbidity markers. RESULTS Sixteen thousand six hundred eighty-seven patients at 21 hospitals from 2008 to 2011 were matched. An increase in ARCTIC score was associated with prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time (P = .001), intraoperative blood product transfusion (P < .001), reoperation (P < .0001), postoperative renal failure (P < .0001), prolonged ventilation (P < .0001), and stroke (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS The ARCTIC index is associated with known markers of perioperative performance and postoperative morbidity. It may be used as an overall marker of quality for cardiac surgery. Further work is required to assess ARCTIC as a method to discriminate between cardiac surgical units.