Predictive value of heart rate in patients with acute type A aortic dissection: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Heart rate (HR) is a risk factor of mortality in many cardiovascular diseases but no clinical studies have focused on the association between HR and prognosis in patients with acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD). This study aimed to evaluate the association between HR and long-term mortality and establish the criteria of HR in patients with ATAAD who underwent total aortic arch replacement combined with the frozen elephant trunk (TAR+FET). DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study that studied all consecutive patients with ATAAD who underwent TAR+FET in the Fuwai Hospital between 2009 and 2015. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: 30-day postoperative, and estimated long-term mortality. RESULTS: Overall, 707 patients with ATAAD who underwent TAR+FET were followed up for a median duration of 29 months (range, 5–77 months). In multivariate logistic analysis, HR (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), renal insufficiency (p=0.033), ejection fraction (p=0.005), cardiopulmonary bypass time (p<0.001) and intraoperative blood loss (p=0.002) were significantly associated with 30-day postoperative and estimated long-term mortalities. A hinge point with a sharp increase in estimated long-term mortality was identified at 80 beats/min (bpm), and compared with HR ≤80 bpm, HR >80 bpm was associated with an almost threefold higher long-term mortality. HRs ≤60, 60–70, 70–80, 80–90, 90–100, 100–110 and >110 bpm were associated with 3.9%, 4.0%, 3.8%, 7.2%, 9.5%, 10.1% and 14.4% yearly risks of death, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: HR is a powerful predictor of long-term mortality in patients with ATAAD undergoing TAR+FET. HR >80 bpm is independently associated with elevated long-term mortality for patients with ATAAD.