Determinants of an impaired quality of life five years after coronary artery bypass surgery

Objective-To identify determinants of an inferior quality of life (QoL) fiv e years after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Setting-University hospital. Participants-Patients from western Sweden who underwent CABG between 1988 a nd 1991. Main outcome measures-Questionnaires for evaluating QoL before CABG and fiv e years after operation. Three different instruments were used: the Notting ham health profile (NHP), the psychological general wellbeing index (PGWI), and the physical activity score (PAS). Results-2121 patients underwent CABG, of whom 310 died during five years' f ollow up. Information on QoL after five years was available in 1431 survivo rs (79%). There were three independent predictors for an inferior QoL with all three instruments: female sex, a history of diabetes mellitus, and a hi story of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Multivariate analysis showe d that a poor preoperative QoL was a strong independent predictor for an im paired QoL five years after CABG. An impaired QoL was also predicted by pre vious disease. Conclusions-Female sex, an impaired QoL before surgery, and other diseases such as diabetes mellitus are independent predictors for an impaired QoL af ter CABG in survivors five years after operation.