Procedural volume has been shown to be associated with outcome in cardiac catheterization and intervention in adults. The impact of center-level factors (such as volume) and their interaction with subject- and procedure-level factors on outcome after cardiac catheterization in children is not well described. We hypothesized that higher center catheterization volume would be associated with lower risk of catastrophic adverse events.

We studied children and young adults 0 to 21 years of age undergoing one or more cardiac catheterizations at centers participating in the Pediatric Health Information Systems database between 2007 and 2012. Using mixed-effects multivariable regression, we assessed the association between center catheterization volumes and the risk of a composite outcome of death and/or initiation of mechanical circulatory support within 1 day of cardiac catheterization adjusting for patient- and procedure-level factors.

A total of 63,994 procedures performed on 40,612 individuals from 38 of 43 centers contributing data to the Pediatric Health Information Systems database were included. The adjusted risk of the composite outcome was 0.1%. Increasing annual catheterization laboratory volume was independently associated with reduced risk of the composite outcome (odds ratio per a 100-procedure/y increment 0.78 [95% CI 0.65-0.93], P < .006). Younger age at catheterization, previous cardiac operation in the same admission as the catheterization, preprocedural vasoactive medications, and hemodialysis were also independently associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes.

Higher cardiac catheterization laboratory volume was associated with reduced risk of catastrophic adverse outcome in the immediate postcatheterization period in children. The observed benefit of catheterization at a larger volume center may be attributable to transmissible best practices or inextricable benefits of larger systems.