Incidence and Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality Among Diabetics Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Objectives The main goals of this study are to delineate the differences in demographics, comorbidities and hospital outcomes between diabetic and non-diabetic aortic stenosis (AS) patients, and next is to evaluate the predictors of in-hospital mortality in AS patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Methods We conducted an observational cross-sectional study using the nationwide inpatient sample (NIS) and included 33,325 adult patients with a primary discharge diagnosis of AS who underwent TAVR during the hospitalization. This sample was further grouped by comorbid diabetic which include non-diabetics (N = 23,585) versus diabetic patients (N = 9,740). Among the hospital outcomes we included the length of stay (LOS) and total cost during hospitalization, and the all-cause in-hospital mortality. We used an independent logistic regression model adjusted for demographic confounders to measure the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of association of comorbid medical conditions and in-hospital mortality risk in non-diabetic and diabetic groups. Results The most prevalent medical comorbidities among inpatients with diabetes were hypertension (85.1%), followed by renal failure (38.0%), chronic lung disease (37.1%), obesity (21.3%), and these values were significantly higher compared with the non-diabetic group. The in-hospitality mortality was higher among the non-diabetic group (4.7%) compared to the diabetic group (2.8%). There was no significant difference in mean length of stay and mean total cost between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups. In diabetic AS inpatients, stroke (aOR: 4.58, 95%CI: 2.23-9.42) and fluid/electrolyte disorders (aOR: 4.25, 95%CI: 3.29-5.48) had a statistically significant association with mortality risk when compared to the non-diabetic group. Among the non-diabetic AS inpatients, fluid/electrolyte disorders had the highest mortality risk (aOR: 2.48, 95% CI 2.17-2.83) followed by coagulopathy (aOR: 2.03; CI: 1.77-2.32), congestive heart failure (aOR: 1.67; CI: 1.40-1.98), and renal failure (aOR: 1.62; CI: 1.41-1.86). Meanwhile, hypertension and obesity had a statistically non-significant and negative association with in-hospital mortality in diabetic and non-diabetic groups. Conclusions Diabetic AS inpatients following TAVR had a higher mortality risk with comorbid fluid/electrolyte disorders and stroke. In-hospital mortality following TAVR was lower among the diabetics compared to non-diabetics, and it underscores diabetes as a surgical risk factor in patients with AS. So, TAVR may be the preferred approach for diabetic patients with AS along with cardiovascular risk factor modification, strict glycemic control and timely renal function follow-up.