[Vocational rehabilitation after an aortocornary bypass operation]

Abstract

To elucidate the influence of coronary bypass surgery on vocational status we studied 238 male patients operated upon for stable angina (mean age 53.3 +/- 7.4 years). The postoperative follow-up was 3.7 +/- 0.7 years. 33 patients died or had to be excluded because they had retired. 113 (55%) of the remaining 205 patients participated in a formal rehabilitation program (group A), whereas 92 (45%) patients did not (group B). There was no significant difference between the two groups with regard to pre- or postoperative clinical and angiographic data, except a higher rate of preoperative unemployment and of patients unfit to work for more than 6 months before operation in group B. The overall preoperative employment rate was 48%, whereas 3.7 years after operation 62% of all the patients were working (p less than 0.005), a net gain of about 30%. Return to work was significantly influenced by the NYHA classification after operation, exercise capacity in the bicycle stress test, duration of preoperative unemployment, type of work and age at operation. In group A the postoperative employment rate was higher than in group B (72% vs. 51%), especially in patients who had not worked before operation (62% vs. 32%). It is concluded that after coronary artery bypass surgery a net gain in employment rate can be expected and a formal rehabilitation program may help the patients to resume work postoperatively. However, definite conclusions cannot be drawn because of the retrospective, nonrandomized design of the study.