Comparison of primary coronary artery bypass surgery in a British Indo-Asian and white Caucasian population

Aim To compare the clinical characteristics, at the time of admission and after coronary revascularization by bypass surgery, among British patients of Indo-Asian and white Caucasian descent. Method One hundred and ninety-four pairs of patients admitted between November 1994 and January 1997 were matched for age (within 3 years), sex and date of admission (within 3 months). Their clinical characteristics at the time of admission for coronary artery bypass grafting surgery, and the incidence of hospital morbidity, hospital mortality and length of stay in the intensive therapy unit or hospital following coronary artery bypass grafting were determined. Results A higher proportion of Indo-Asian patients underwent coronary revascularization on a non-elective basis (43% vs 32% white Caucasian patients, P=0.018), had a higher prevalence of diabetes (39% vs 12%, P=0.0001), a lower prevalence of smoking (36% vs 80%, P=0.0001) and a lower rate of previous myocardial infarction (47% vs 62%, P=0.012). As regards revascularization, although there was no significant difference in the number of vessels revascularized, there was a lower use of the arterial conduit (internal mammary artery) in the Indo-Asian patients (72% vs 81%, P=0.028) particularly for those undergoing emergency/urgent surgery (59% vs 72%, P=0.001) and with a previous myocardial infarction (65% vs 81%; P=0.01) when compared with their white Caucasian counterparts. Following surgery there were no differences in the types of support required for vital functions. There was no signicant difference in the proportion of major post-operative complications, that is, haemorrhage, cerebrovascular accident, renal failure requiring dialysis or respiratory failure. Similarly, there were no differences in the length of intensive therapy unit stay (median stay 1 day vs 1 day, P=0.4) and hospital stay following surgery (median stay 6 days vs 6 days, P=0.5)between the two groups. Although there was a trend towards a higher in-hospital (30 day) mortality (6.7% [95% confidence intervals CI 3.18-10.21] vs 2.6% [CI 0.35-4.9; P=0.0618]), in Indo-Asians compared to white Caucasians this trend disappeared when patients in the two groups undergoing non-elective surgery only were compared (9% vs 7%; P=0.7). Conclusions A higher proportion of Indo-Asians underwent non-elective coronary revascularization, with a significantly lower use of the arterial conduit and a relatively higher in-hospital mortality. Following coronary revascularization the medical management, length of stay and hospital morbidity in Indo-Asian patients was no different from that of their white Caucasian counterparts. This is despite a perceived poorer outcome in Indo-Asians compared to white Caucasians.