Days at Home After Transcatheter Versus Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement in Low-Risk Patients

BACKGROUND: Days at home (DAH) represents an important patient-oriented outcome that quantifies time spent at home after a medical event; however, this outcome has not been fully evaluated for low-surgical-risk patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). We sought to compare 1- and 2-year DAH (DAH365 and DAH730) among low-risk patients participating in a randomized trial of TAVR with a self-expanding bioprosthesis versus surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).METHODS: Using Medicare-linked data from the Evolut Low Risk trial, we identified 619 patients: 606 (322 TAVR/284 SAVR) and 593 (312 TAVR/281 SAVR) were analyzed at 1 and 2 years, respectively. DAH was calculated as days alive and spent outside a hospital, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing facility, long-term acute care hospital, emergency department, or observation stay. Mean DAH was compared using the t test.RESULTS: The mean (SD) age and female sex were 74.7 (5.1) and 74.3 (4.9) years and 34.6% (115/332) and 30.3% (87/287) in TAVR and SAVR, respectively. Postprocedural discharge to rehabilitation occurred in <= 3.0% (<= 10/332) in TAVR and 4.5% (13/287) in SAVR. The mean DAH(365) was comparable in TAVR versus SAVR (352.2 +/- 45.4 versus 347.8 +/- 39.0; difference in days, 4.5 [95% CI, 2.3-11.2]; P=0.20). DAH(730) was also comparable in TAVR versus SAVR (701.6 +/- 106.0 versus 699.6 +/- 94.5; difference in days, 2.0 [-14.1 to 18.2]; P=0.81). Secondary outcomes DAH(30) and DAH(90) were higher in TAVR (DAH(30), 26.0 +/- 3.6 versus 20.7 +/- 6.4; difference in days, 5.3 [4.5-6.2]; P<0.001; DAH(90), 85.1 +/- 8.3 versus 78.7 +/- 13.6; difference in days, 6.4 [4.6-8.2]; P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: In the Evolut Low Risk trial linked to Medicare, low-risk patients undergoing TAVR spend a similar number of days at home at 1 and 2 years compared with SAVR. Days spent at home at 30 and 90 days were higher in TAVR. In contrast to higher-risk patients studied in prior work, there is no clear advantage of TAVR versus SAVR for DAH in the first 2 years after AVR in low-surgical-risk patients.