Predictors of quality of life among patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery

Objective— Improving the quality of life (QoL) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) requires the determination of the risk factors that have an impact on physical functioning and mental health. The present study sought to determine the risk factors influencing QoL in patients with CAD and to assess the relationship between preoperative QoL and early outcome of CABG.Methods and results— The SF-36 questionnaire was completed through interviews with 275 consecutive patients who underwent isolated CABG in the Tehran Heart Centre between May and-09-2006. The present study measured the two scores of physical and psychological component summary scores and assessed their relationships with preoperative characteristics and postoperative complications. The mean scores of physical and psychological components were 65.78 ± 24.13 and 67.72 ± 20.55, respectively. Diabetes mellitus (P= 0.007), family history of CAD (P= 0.032), low education level (P= 0.015), high Euroscore (P= 0.022), and high functional class (P< 0.001) were the main predictors for the low physical score of QoL. In addition, female gender was associated with a low QoL psychological score (P< 0.001). However, the elderly patients had a higher psychological score in comparison with the younger ones (P= 0.032). No relationship between the studied postoperative complications and preoperative psychological and physical scores was found.Conclusions— Female gender and lower age show specific influences on the patients’ mental health. Our findings also indicate a major direct influence of general risk factors for CAD and education level on CAD patients’ physical functioning before CABG. Nonetheless, preoperative QoL does not influence the postoperative complications.