Patients that underwent heart surgery in the afternoon had better health outcomes compared to those who had the procedure in the morning, according to research published in The Lancet.
The team of researchers — led by David Montaigne, PhD, a University of Lille-France professor — observed 596 patients who underwent heart valve replacement, in an effort to understand the way circadian rhythm affects patient outcomes. In the 500 days post surgery, the researchers found patients who had surgery past noon had half the risk of a major cardiac event, such as myocardial infarction, acute heart failure and death, compared to the patients who had surgeries in the morning.
The study also included a randomized controlled trial of 88 patients who were receiving the same surgery. Half had surgeries in the morning and the other half had surgeries in the afternoon. In this controlled trial, the results were similar: afternoon surgeries resulted in fewer incidences of a major cardiac event. Researchers found afternoon surgeries resulted in lower levels of myocardial ischaemia-reperfustion injury, tissue damage that occurs when blood flows through the repaired portion of the heart.
This is the latest research in a growing body of evidence that suggest the time of day, and a patient's circadian rhythm, plays an important role in cardiac surgery outcomes.
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