Improvement in quality of life differs between women and men after coronary artery bypass surgery

Objective. To study improvement in quality of life (QoL) after coronary art ery bypass grafting (CABG) in relation to gender. Background. Women generally report worse QoL after CABG than men. However, women are older and more symptomatic prior to surgery, which should be cons idered in comparative analyses. Methods. We studied consecutive patients who underwent CABG between 1988 an d 1991 [n = 2121] with a QoL questionnaire containing the Physical Activity Score, the Nottingham Health Profile and the Psychological General Well-be ing Index prior to, 3 months, 1 year and 2 years after surgery. Results. Females were older than men with more concomitant diseases preoper atively. QoL was improved on all postoperative occasions for both sexes. Im provement in the Physical Activity Score was somewhat, although not signifi cantly, greater in males, Improvement in the Nottingham Health Profile was greater in females, General well-being showed no consistent pattern for imp rovement. Conclusions. QoL is significantly improved after CABG in both sexes through out follow-up. There is a complex association between improvement in variou s aspects of QoL and gender.