Impact of a history of hypertension on symptoms and quality of life prior to and at five years after coronary artery bypass grafting

Aim: To describe symptoms and other aspects of health-related quality of li fe (QoL) prior to and 5 years after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in relation to a history of hypertension. Methods: Patients who underwent C ABG in western Sweden were approached prior to surgery and 5 years after th e operation. Health-related QoL was estimated with the Physical Activity Sc ore, the Nottingham Health Profile and the Psychological General Well-Being Index. Results: In patients with a history of hypertension (n = 740) the 5 -year mortality was 16.9% versus 12.4% among patients with no history (n = 1257; p = 0.004). Of 1717 patients available for the survey, 876 (51%) resp onded both prior to and 5 years after CABG. Of these, 36% had a history of hypertension. Compared with the situation prior to surgery there was an imp rovement in both hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients in tens of phys ical activity, symptoms of dyspnea and chest pain and other estimates of he alth-related QoL. However, physical activity and dyspnea improved less in h ypertensive than in non-hypertensive patients. Conclusion: Five years after CABG, a marked and significant improvement in terms of symptoms and other aspects of health-related QoL was observed among both hypertensive and non- hypertensive patients. However, improvement in physical activity was less m arked in patients with a history of hypertension. Overall, a history of hyp ertension seemed to have a minor impact on improved well-being 5 years afte r coronary surgery. However, because of the limited response rate the resul ts may not be applicable in a non-selected CABG population.