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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 May 20:79:100370.
doi: 10.1016/j.clinsp.2024.100370. eCollection 2024.

Benefits of using a support bra in women undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery: A randomized trial

Thais Rodrigues de Almeida Silva  1 , Julia Nishida Ono  2 , Fabiana Cristina Bazana Remedio Miname  2 , Luís Henrique Wolff Gowdak  2 , Bruno Maher Mioto  2 , Renan Barbosa Dos Santos  2 , Luiz Roberto Palma Dallan  2 , Luiz Antonio Machado Cesar  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Benefits of using a support bra in women undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery: A randomized trial

Thais Rodrigues de Almeida Silva et al. Clinics (Sao Paulo). .

Abstract

Background: Approximately 30 % of cardiac surgeries are conducted on women by median sternotomy, which often causes discomfort such as pain, affects quality of life, and delayed recovery compared with men. Breast size is related to operative wound complications, such as incisional pain, sternum dehiscence, and infection, which may affect hospital costs due to prolonged hospital stays.

Objective: To evaluate breast size and operative wound complications and the effect of breast support on the incidence of pain, infection, and quality of life in women after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Method: Women were randomly assigned to one of three groups: group A (surgical breast support), group B (ordinary breast support), and group C (no-support). Observations were taken daily between the second and seventh postoperative days and at 30, 60, and 180 days. Pain was assessed using the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF36) for quality of life and a verbal numerical scale. The authors used the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests to examine variance. The authors used the Pearson correlation coefficient or the Spearman correlation for correlations between variables. A multivariate study was conducted to evaluate the occurrence of infection, and the logistic regression model with "stepwise" variable selection was used. A linear regression model with the "stepwise" variable selection was also used for hospitalization. The authors used SPSS 17.0 software for Windows, with a significance level of p < 0.05.

Results: There was no difference in pain evaluation between the groups in 190 women (p > 0.05). When comparing quality of life, there was a statistically significant difference in the functional capacity domain at 30 and 60 days, with group A having the best functional capacity (p < 0.05). The larger the breast size, the longer the hospital stay (p < 0.001) and the higher the probability of infection (p = 0.032). Patients with a history of stroke had a 3.8 higher incidence of infection (p = 0.040).

Conclusion: The use of surgical support did not affect acute pain or sternal infection rate in the 6-month follow-up. However, it was effective in the functional capacity domain 30 days after surgery and maintained at 60 days.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02864186.

Keywords: Pain; Quality of life; Sternotomy; Surgical support.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig.. 1
Fig. 1
The consolidated standards of reporting trial diagram.
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References

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