Abstract: Objective  To evaluate the incidence and mortality of  reentry ICU after cardiac surgery，and to analyze them by stratification.Methods  The inclusion criteria and retrieval strategy of original literature were established. Such databases as Chinese Periodical Full Text Database, Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, Full Text Database of Chinese SciTech Periodical, Wanfang Database, PubMed and Elsevier were searched electronically to extract valid data. Associations between the incidence and mortality of reentry ICU, the perioperative risk factors such as circulatory and respiratory complications, were stratified by geographical, age, diseases and different time periods.  All the data were analyzed with RevMan 5.3 software. Results  A total of 22 articles were included in this study, and  89 981  patients were enrolled. The number of readmission and deaths were 2 717 and 478 respectively. The total incidence of reentry ICU was 3%(95%CI=0.030.04，P＜0.01); reentry ICU rate for respiratory reason was 39%(95%CI=0.330.44，P＜0.01), and for circulatory reason was 29%(95%CI=0.250.34，P＜0.01). The rate of reentry ICU was lower athome than that abroad, lower in children than that among adults,lower after 2011 than that before 2010, and lower in congenital heart disease than that in CABG. The total mortality of reentry ICU cases was 18%(95%CI=0.150.21，P＜0.01). The mortality abroad was higher than that at home,and the mortality in congenital heart disease is lower than in CABG. Conclusion  The rate of readmission into cardiac intensive care unit is  low, but the mortality of the ones that have been readmitted is quite high.

Key words: intensive care units;cardiac surgical procedures, patient readmission, incidence, metaanalysis