Incremental effect of complications on mortality and hospital costs in adult ECMO patients

Introduction: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a resource-intense modality whose usage is expanding rapidly. It is a costly endeavor and best conducted in a multidisciplinary setting. There is a growing impetus to mitigate the mortality and costs associated with ECMO. We sought to examine the impact of complications on mortality and hospital costs in patients on ECMO. Methods: Using the NIS database, we performed multivariable logistic regression to assess the influence of complications on the primary outcome, in-hospital mortality. Similarly, we performed multivariable survey linear regression analysis to evaluate the effect of the complications on hospital costs. Results: Of the 12,637 patients supported using ECMO between 2004 and 2013, 9836 (78%) developed at least one complication. The three most common complications were acute kidney injury (32.8%), bloodstream infection (31.8%), and bleeding (27.8%). An ECMO hospitalization with no complications was associated with median costs of $53,470, a single complication with costs of $97,560, two complications with costs of $139,035, and three complication with costs of $162,284. A single complication was associated with a 165% increase in odds of mortality. Two or three complications resulted in 375% or 627% higher odds of mortality, respectively. Having one, two, or three complications was associated with 24%, 38%, or 38% increase in median costs respectively (Figure 1). Complications associated with the highest median costs were central line-associated bloodstream infection $217,751; liver failure $176,201; bloodstream infection $169,529. Conclusion: In-hospital mortality and costs increase with each incremental complication in patients on ECMO. Accurate prediction and mitigation of complications is likely to improve outcomes and cost.