Trends and outcomes for cardiac surgery in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2016

Abstract Objectives Cardiac surgery has evolved significantly since the turn of the century. The objective of this study was to investigate trends in cardiac surgery activity and outcomes in the UK utilising a mandatory national cardiac surgical clinical database in the context of a comprehensive public healthcare system (National Health Service). Methods Data for all cardiac surgery procedures performed between 2002 and 2016 were extracted from the United Kingdom National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit (NACSA) database. Data are validated and cleaned using reproducible algorithms. Trends in activity and outcomes were analysed by financial year using linear regression. Results A total of 534,067 procedures were performed during the study period with the number of cases per year peaking in 2008/2009 at 41,426. Despite an increase in patient age and mean logistic EuroSCORE, the in-hospital mortality rate for all cardiac surgery has fallen from 4.0% to 2.8% (P Conclusions This study, which covers all cardiac surgery procedures performed in the UK for financial years between 2002 and 2016, demonstrates that despite an increase in patient risk profile, there has been a consistent reduction in in-hospital mortality. A number of other markers associated with quality have also improved.