Rehospitalisations, repeated aortic surgery, and death in initial survivors of surgery for Stanford type A aortic dissection and the significance of age - a nationwide registry-based cohort study

Describe and compare incidences across age groups of rehospitalization, repeated aortic surgery, and death in patients who survived surgery and hospitalization for type A aortic dissection.

From Danish nationwide registries, we identified patients hospitalized with Stanford type A aortic dissections (2006–2018). Survivors of hospitalization and surgery on the ascending aorta and/or aortic arch comprised the study population (n = 606, 36 (38.9%) <60 years old (group I), 194 (32.0%) 60–69 years old (group II), and 176 (29.1%) >69 years old (group III)). During the first year, 62.5% were re-hospitalized and 1.4% underwent repeated aortic surgery with no significant differences across age groups (P = 0.68 and P = 0.39, respectively). Further, 5.9% died (group I: 3.0%, group II: 8.3%, group III: 7.4%, P = 0.04). After 10 years, 8.0% had undergone repeated aortic surgery (group I: 11.5%, group II: 8.5%, group III: 1.6%, P = 0.04) and 10.2% (group I), 17.0% (group II), and 22.2% (group III) had died (P = 0.01). Using multivariable Cox regression analysis, we described long-term outcomes comparing age groups. No age differences were found in one-year outcomes, while age > 69 years compared with age < 60 years was associated with a lower rate of repeated aortic surgery [hazard ratio 0.17, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04–0.78] and a higher rate of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 2.44, 95% CI 1.37–4.34) in the 10-year analyses.

Rehospitalisations in the first year after discharge were common in all age groups, but survival was high. Repeated aortic surgery was significantly more common among younger than older patients.