Quality of Life in Patients of Different Age Groups before and after Coronary Artery By-Pass Surgery

Abstract

Purpose: The study evaluates the changes in quality of life (QOL) six months after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) related to the patients' age.

Methods: The total of 243 consecutive patients completed the Nottingham Health Profile Questionnaire part 1 before and six months after CABG. Postoperative questionnaire was completed by 226 patients. Patients were divided into four examined groups (<50, 50-59, 60-69 and ≥70 years), according to their age.

Results: Six months after CABG, the quality of life in different sections has been significantly improved in most patients.The analysis of the relation between the age and the changes in QOL of patients six months after CABG showed a significant correlation among the patients' age and the improvement of QOL in the sections of physical mobility (r = 0.18, p = 0.008), social isolation (r = 0.17, p = 0.01) and energy ( r = 0.21, p = 0.002). The most prominent improvement was found in older patients. The age was not an independent predictor of QOL deterioration after CABG.

Conclusions: The most noticeable improvement of QOL six months after CABG was found in older patients. Age is not the independent predictor of deterioration of QOL after CABG.

Fig. 1

The mean preoperative NHP QOL score in patients of different age groups *p <0,01. The relation between the preoperative quality of life and the patients age: PM – r = 0.22, p = 0.001; SI – r = 0.16, p = 0.009; ER – r = 0.07, p = 0.26; En – r = 0.23, p <0.001; Pain – r = 0.11, p = 0.09; Sleep – r = 0.07, p = 0.29. PM: physical mobility; SI: social isolation; ER: emotional reaction; En: energy.

Fig. 2

The mean NHP part 1 scores in each section of QOL in patients of different age groups, before and after CABG in comparison with referent values. p <0.01 for all sections and age groups except for *p <0.05 i **p >0.05.

Fig. 3

The changes in postoperative NHP score in correlation with patients age groups (*p <0,01). On the abscissa are presented the age groups of the studied population of patients. The average change of QOL score is shown on ordinate (the difference between pre- and post - CABG quality of life). Values above zero indicate an average improvement, while values below zero indicate an average deterioration in QOL for a given age group (PM – r = 0.18, p = 0.008; SI – r = 0.17, p = 0.01; ER – r = 0.06, p = 0.40; En – r = 0.21, p = 0.002; Pain – r = 0.05, p = 0.49; Sleep – r = –0.04, p = 0.57). PM: physical mobility; SI: social isolation; ER: emotional reaction; En: energy; r: Coefficient of correlation.