Table 1: Patients Demographics

Rigid Fixation Conventional Closure Univariate Multivariate
Group R Group C Analyses Analyses
Number of patients 89 133 P value P value
Clinical characteristics
Age (mean ± std) 62 ± 9 69 ± 11 <0.0001
Age over 75 8 (9%) 47 (35%) <0.0001 0.0097
Age under 65 55 (62%) 48 (36%) 0.0002 0.0002
Male sex 75 (84%) 64 (48%) <0.0001 0.0001
Cardiac profile
Acute myocardial infarction 5 (6%) 5 (4%) 0.5129
History of congestive heart failure 11 (12%) 15 (11%) 0.8060
Poor ejection function (<40%) 10 (11%) 20 (15%) 0.4168
Atrial fibrillation 6 (7%) 20 (15%) 0.0596
Redo surgery 2 (2%) 12 (9%) 0.0418 0.0598
Emergent or urgent surgery 16 (18%) 35 (26%) 0.1478
Left main disease 15 (17%) 20 (15%) 0.7159
Coronary risk factors
Hypertension 76 (85%) 117 (88%) 0.5766
Diabetes 27 (30%) 51 (38%) 0.2206
Insulin user 7 (8%) 20 (15%) 0.1091
Hyperlipidemia 75 (84%) 99 (74%) 0.0811
Smoking 18 (20%) 18 (14%) 0.1850
Body mass index above 30 50 (56%) 49 (37%) 0.0045 0.0048
Body mass index above 35 18 (20%) 24 (18%) 0.6845
Family history 50 (56%) 63 (47%) 0.1981
Peripheral vascular disease 12 (14%) 13 (10%) 0.3916
Cerebral vascular accident 11 (12%) 22 (17%) 0.3907
Chronic pulmonary disease 15 (17%) 27 (20%) 0.5205
Renal dysfunction (Creatinine above 1.5 mg/dl) 2 (2%) 6 (5%) 0.3751
Surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery 73 (82%) 84 (63%) 0.0025 0.5381
Internal mammary artery use in coronary bypass 69 (95%) 68 (83%) 0.0284 0.4851
Number of distal anastomosis 2.6 ± 0.9 2.5 ± 0.9 0.4180
Valve surgery 26 (29%) 72 (54%) 0.0002 0.1111
EuroSCORE 2.6 ± 2.3 4.4 ±2.7 0.0001