Decreasing Mortality for STAT 4 and 5 Neonatal Heart Surgeries Concurrent With Improving Prenatal Detection: The Nevada Experience

Abstract

Objective: Our objective was to investigate whether a relationship existed between our center’s STAT 4 and 5 category surgical mortality and general-population prenatal detection rates in Nevada. Methods: We identified patients who underwent STAT 4 and 5 neonatal index cardiovascular surgeries at our center between October 2012 and September 2021. Additionally, we calculated prenatal detection rates for each of the 9 retrospective study years. We used descriptive statistics and nonparametric testing, including the Spearman Rho correlation (R) and the Mann-Whitney U-tests, with a significant P-value set at < .05. Results: We identified 356 patients. We noted a statistically significant increasing trend in prenatal detection percentages (rho = 0.79, P = .01), concurrent with a statistically significant decreasing trend in surgical mortality (rho = −0.82, P = .007). Conclusions: Despite encouraging results, we could not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between concurrent decreased surgical mortality and increased prenatal detection rates for patients undergoing STAT 4 and 5 surgical procedures at our center.