FEMORODISTAL BYPASS-GRAFTING - QUALITY-OF-LIFE AND SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS

Objectives: To investigate the socioeconomic aspects and the outcome o f femorodistal bypass grafting operations in terms of general health s tate. Design: Prospective open clinical study. Material: 168 operation s in 153 patients. Methods: A structured questionnaire was used to ass ess quality of life, and each patient was classified into a health sta te group defined by levels of disability and distress. Results: Before operation 23 patients were actively employed, 96 were old age pension ers, 29 received invalidity pension, and five were long term sick. 80% were living in their own home without ally help. Only 19 patients wer e actively employed at follow up, 12 of these had been working before the operation, and seven other patients had taken up paid work. About three-quarters of the patients could manage daily life without help af ter the operation, and 82% had no or only mild distress. There were si gnificant changes with respect to physical mobility in all groups and emotional status in one group. In all other cases a significant change could not be shown. The median Quality of Life score at follow up ton s 0.986 (n = 102, variance 0.022). The immediate costs were pound 1.5 million. Conclusions: The classification into disability and distress groups was informative, but the methods for assessment of the results of vascular surgery on quality of life, evaluation of patient satisfac tion and of patients' expectations must be further developed.