Prediction of Short-Term Mortality With Renal Replacement Therapy in Patients With Cardiac Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury

Objective: We aimed to: (1) explore the risk factors that affect the prognosis of cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CS-AKI) in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy (RRT) and (2) investigate the predictive value of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, and Vasoactive-Inotropic Score (VIS) for mortality risk in patients undergoing RRT. Methods: Data from patients who underwent cardiac surgery from January 2015 through February 2021 were retrospectively reviewed to calculate the APACHE III score, SOFA score, and VIS on the first postoperative day and at the start of RRT. Various risk factors influencing the prognosis of the patients during treatment were evaluated; the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC(ROC)) was used to measure the predictive ability of the three scores. Independent risk factors influencing mortality were analyzed using multivariable binary logistic regression. Results: A total of 90 patients were included in the study, using 90-day survival as the end point. Of those patients, 36 patients survived, and 54 patients died; the mortality rate reached 60%. At the start of RRT, the AUC(ROC) of the APACHE III score was 0.866 (95% CI: 0.795–0.937), the VIS was 0.796 (95% CI: 0.700–0.892), and the SOFA score was 0.732 (95% CI: 0.623–0.842). The AUC(ROC)-value of the APACHE III score on the first postoperative day was 0.790 (95% CI: 0.694–0.885). After analyzing multiple factors, we obtained the final logistic regression model with five independent risk factors at the start of RRT: a high APACHE III score (OR: 1.228, 95% CI: 1.079–1.397), high VIS (OR: 1.147, 95% CI: 1.021–1.290), low mean arterial pressure (MAP) (OR: 1.170, 95% CI: 1.050–1.303), high lactate value (OR: 1.552, 95% CI: 1.032–2.333), and long time from AKI to initiation of RRT (OR: 1.014, 95% CI: 1.002–1.027). Conclusion: In this study, we showed that at the start of RRT, the APACHE III score and the VIS can accurately predict the risk of death in patients undergoing continuous RRT for CS-AKI. The APACHE III score on the first postoperative day allows early prediction of patient mortality risk. Predictors influencing patient mortality at the initiation of RRT were high APACHE III score, high VIS, low MAP, high lactate value, and long time from AKI to the start of RRT.