In-Hospital Mortality for Surgical Repair of Congenital Heart Defects: Preliminary Observations of Variation by Hospital Caseload

Abstract

For children with a congenital heart defect who underwent surgery in California in 1988 or Massachusetts in 1989, the risk of dying in-hospital was much lower if the surgery was performed at an institution performing > 300 cases annually. This study was limited by the absence of clinical detail in discharge abstract databases. If these findings are corroborated by other studies, health care delivery strategies that direct children requiring surgical correction of congenital heart defects to high-volume centers may substantially reduce overall mortality.