Postoperative Hypoalbuminemia Is Associated With Outcome in Patients Undergoing Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Objective The authors aimed to investigate whether immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia could be associated with outcomes after off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCAB) surgery. Design A retrospective analysis of the medical data. Setting Cardiac operating room and adult cardiovascular intensive care unit at a single institution. Participants Six hundred ninety adult patients underwent elective OPCAB surgery over a 30-month period. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results To evaluate the clinical relevance of immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia, the lowest serum albumin level measured over the first 12 hours postoperatively was recorded. A cutoff point was calculated by the area under the curve in the receiver operating characteristic plot for 30-day adverse events including death. Patients were classified according to the cutoff value, and outcomes were compared between groups using propensity score–matching analysis. The impact of immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia on OPCAB outcome was investigated using multivariate analysis. The cutoff value for immediate postoperative albumin concentration for predicting 30-day adverse events was 2.3 g/dL. Immediate postoperative hypoalbuminemia (