The Relationship Between Hospital Stroke Center Designation and TVT Reported Stroke: The Michigan TAVR Experience.

Background: The 30-day rate of stroke after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been suggested as a hospital quality metric. Thirty-day stroke rates for nonsurgical, high, and moderate-risk TAVR trials were 3.4% to 6.1%, whereas those in the national Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT) Registry for the same patient population were much lower. Hospital comprehensive stroke center (CSC) is the highest designation for integrated acute stroke recognition, management, and care.
Objectives: Using Michigan TVT data, we assessed whether in-hospital post-TAVR stroke rates varied between CSC and non-CSC institutions.
Methods: TVT data submitted from the 22 Michigan Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Collaborative participating institutions between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019, were included (N = 6,231). Bayesian hierarchical regression models accounting for patient clinical characteristics and hospital clustering were fitted to assess the association between hospital CSC accreditation and in-hospital post-TAVR stroke. Adjusted ORs and 95% credible intervals were estimated. The University of Michigan Institutional Review Board has waived the need for the approval of studies based on the data collected by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium registry.
Results: There were 3,882 (62.3%) patients at 9 CSC sites and 2,349 (37.7%) patients at 13 non-CSC sites. CSC sites had significantly higher rates of in-hospital post-TAVR stroke (CSC: 2.65% vs non-CSC: 1.15%; P < 0.001). After adjustment, patients who underwent TAVR at a CSC hospital had a significantly higher risk of in-hospital stroke (adjusted OR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.03-4.62). However, CSC designation was not significantly associated with other important post-TAVR clinical outcomes including 30-day mortality.
Conclusions: Reported Michigan Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Collaborative TVT stroke rates were significantly higher at sites with Joint Hospital Commission stroke designation status; however, other reported important clinical outcomes did not differ significantly based on this designation. CSC designation is a possible factor in stroke rate detection differences between TAVR institutions and might be a factor in the observed differences in stroke rates between TAVR trials and those reported in TVT. In addition, these data suggest that comparison between hospitals based on post-TAVR stroke rates is potentially problematic.
Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Michigan TAVR is supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Dr Grossman is a consultant for Medtronic Cardiovascular and Edwards Lifesciences; provides research support for Medtronic Cardiovascular, Edwards Lifesciences; Cardiovascular Systems Inc, and National Institutes of Health; and provides registry support for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Dr Sukul provides registry support for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Dr Seth provides registry support for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Dr Chetcuti is a consultant for Medtronic Cardiovascular and Edwards Lifesciences; provides research support for Medtronic Cardiovascular and Edwards Lifesciences; and provides registry support for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Dr Patel provides registry support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
(Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)