Coronary angioplasty in octogenarians - Quality of life and costs

Background Improvement in quality of life is the major motivation for angio plasty in very elderly patients. The alleviation of symptoms with this meth od is therefore of particular interest. However, little is known about the impact of angioplasty in terms of quality of life in octogenarian patients and what the treatment costs are. Methods and Results We prospectively compared patients aged 80 years or abo ve (n=34, 83 +/- 3 years) with younger patients (n=34, 62 +/- 8 years) rega rding their quality of life following coronary angioplasty. Patients were i nterviewed immediately following angioplasty and 6 months later using the S F-36 health survey. Key determinants of costs and follow-up for 6 months we re documented. The number of diseased vessels, interventions performed and number of lesio ns treated were comparable in both groups. Success rates were lower in the octogenarian than in the control group (88 vs 97%). In both groups angiopla sty significantly improved the ability to fulfil physical role expectations and decreased bodily pain. Both the effects on Role Physical and on Bodily Pain were more pronounced in the octogenerian patients. Determinants of co sts did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions Our data demonstrate that in octogenarians with symptomatic cor onary heart disease, coronary angioplasty significantly increases physical abilities and decreases pain. Further, these effects were more pronounced i n octogenarian patients than in younger patients. (Eur Heart J 1999; 20:179 1-1798) (C) 1999 European Society of Cardiology.