FACTORS RELATED TO FUNCTIONAL STATUS AFTER PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY

OBJECTIVE: To describe the recovery process 1 year after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and measure factors that infl uence functional status. DESIGN: Prospective, one-group observational study. SETTING: Mid-Atlantic, university-affiliated, tertiary care med ical center. PATIENTS: One hundred thirty-five adults who underwent fi rst-time PTCA. The age range was 29 to 78 years (mean 57). OUTCOME MEA SURE: Functional status. INTERVENTION: Data collection was initiated b efore PTCA by personal interview and self-administered questionnaire c onducted in the hospital and 12 months after PTCA by mailed questionna ire. Data on clinical, demographic, occupational, and psychosocial fac tors were collected to determine the predictors of functional status 1 2 months after PTCA. RESULTS: One-tailed paired t tests were conducted to measure whether there was improvement (positive change) in functio nal status from before PTCA to 12 months after PTCA. Multivariate and logistic-regression analyses were also conducted. Although there were significant improvements in functional status outcomes in the categori es of activities of daily living, mental health, and social interactio n 12 months after PTCA, patients continued to report important functio nal status disabilities in the categories of activities of daily livin g (14%), social activity (14%), mental health (25%), quality of intera ction (10%), and work performance (17%). The variable most predictive of functional status was the patient's baseline score on that particul ar functional status subscale. CONCLUSION: These findings are consiste nt with other studies on functional status. They suggest that rehabili tation programs should assess pre-PTCA functional status to identify t hose individuals at risk for poor outcome after PTCA and design interv entions to restore physical and functional status after PTCA.