Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on Mortality and In-Hospital Outcomes after Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation

Purpose Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a known risk factor for increased mortality in advanced heart failure and in those undergoing cardiac surgery. However, there is paucity of large-scale data on its influence on outcomes in patients undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. We sought to determine the impact of DM on in-hospital outcomes after LVAD placement. Methods Using the National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS), we identified patients who underwent LVAD implantation from 2010-2014. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate in-hospital outcomes. Results A total of 15,483 patients (32.1% with DM) underwent LVAD implantation. Patients with DM were older (59.1 vs 55.2 years), with higher prevalence of obesity (21.2 vs 10.5%) and greater burden of comorbidities (Elixhauser 7.7 vs 6.1), compared to patients without DM. There was no significant difference in mortality during the hospitalization post-LVAD implantation between patients with and without DM (9.6 vs 14.6%; OR 0.84; p 0.64). There was also no difference in the incidence of other major in-hospital complications analyzed such as bleeding, infection, renal failure and stroke (Table 1). Conclusion Diabetes is relatively common in LVAD recipients but does not increase mortality or incidence of major in-hospital complications in this national database.