Table 2.
Occurrence of postoperative AF, length of stay in ICU, and total length of stay in hospital
| Pre-operative BB | Study drug | Odds ratio | Difference between placebo and metoprolol | p Value* | ||
| Metoprolol | Placebo | |||||
| Dichotomous outcomes | ||||||
| AF | Yes | 29.6% | 40.1% | 0.63 | 0.065 | |
| No | 38.5% | 35.0% | 1.16 | |||
| Complications† | Yes | 8.8% | 7.8% | 1.14 | 0.99 | |
| No | 12.1% | 10.7% | 1.15 | |||
| Continuous outcomes | ||||||
| ICU stay (hours) | Yes | 36.1 (30.8) | 34.9 (25.8) | −1.2 (28.5) | 0.03‡ | |
| No | 53.0 (107.8) | 31.7 (18.1) | −21.3 (75) | |||
| Hospital stay (hours) | Yes | 149.2 (57.2) | 152.4 (61.7) | 3.3 (59.4) | 0.002‡ | |
| No | 183.4 (171.2) | 148.0 (59.2) | −35.4 (124.9) | |||
| Hospital cost (C$) | Yes | 4755 (2040) | 4729 (1730) | |||
| No | 5374 (2839) | 4521 (1508) | ||||
BB, β blocker; ICU, intensive care unit
*Unadjusted p values of interaction (p value tests for an interaction between pre-operative BB use and study drug).
†Complications were: ventricular tachyarrhythmia, stroke, myocardial infarction, embolism, infection, need for a permanent pacemaker, ventilation for >3 days or reintubation.
‡p value calculated after taking logarithm base 10.