Endovascular versus open surgical elective repair of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm: Predictors of patient discharge destination

PURPOSE: To evaluate patient discharge destination after elective endovascu lar or open surgical repair of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm and to determine predictors for discharge to home or to a rehabilitation center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients electively treated for infrarenal abdom inal aortic aneurysm with endovascular repair (n = 182) or open surgery (n = 274) between January 1997 and September 1999 were included. From the hosp ital database, information on discharge destination, patient characteristic s, complications, and length of stay was retrieved. Multiple logistic regre ssion analysis was performed to determine predictors for discharge to home or to a rehabilitation center. RESULTS: Patient characteristics did not differ significantly between the t reatment groups, with the exception of age (mean age, 75.1 vs 72.9 years in the endovascular and open surgical group, respectively; P = .005). Patient discharge destinations differed significantly between the treatment groups (P = .001). After endovascular procedures, 156 (85.7%) of 182 patients wen t home and 19 (10.4%) of 182 patients went to a rehabilitation center. Afte r open surgery, 187 (68.2%) of 274 patients went home and 64 (23.4%) of 274 patients went to a rehabilitation center. The odds ratio of discharge to a rehabilitation center, instead of home, following endovascular procedures versus open surgery was 0.23 (95% Cl: 0.13, 0.43). CONCLUSION: Following elective repair of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneury sm, significantly more patients went home after an endovascular procedure t han after open surgery. Procedure type was a significant predictor of disch arge destination.