Early outcomes and complications following cardiac surgery in patients testing positive for coronavirus disease 2019: An international cohort study

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus-2, the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 2019 represented a global emergency accounting for more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide.1 It has had an unprecedented influence on cardiac surgery internationally, resulting in cautious delivery of surgery and restructuring of services.2 Understanding the influence of COVID-19 on patients after cardiac surgery is based on assumptions from other surgical specialties and single-center studies. The COVIDSurg Collaborative conducted a multicenter cohort study, including 1128 patients, across 235 hospitals, from 24 countries demonstrating perioperative COVID-19 infection was associated with an overall mortality of 24% and postoperative pulmonary complications in half of all patients.3 Cardiac surgery arguably represents a higher risk population than general or orthopedic surgery due to the high American Society of Anesthesiologists grades and multiple comorbidities usually seen. We present a subgroup analysis of COVIDSurg data, including patients who underwent cardiac surgery between March 1, 2020, and July 31, 2020, across 13 countries, with a confirmed perioperative (7 days preoperative up to 30 days postoperative) diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. This is presented in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement for cohort studies.4 Categorical variables were expressed as frequency and percentages and c2 or Fisher exact test was used to compare categorical variables. Only anonymized data were collected. Patient consent was obtained unless it was waived by local research committees. In the United Kingdom, the study was registered at each site as either a clinical audit or service evaluation and consent was waived. In other countries, local investigators were responsible for contacting research ethics committees to obtain local or national approvals in line with applicable regulations.