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 life (QoL) prior to and 5 years after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in relation to a history of hypertension. METHODS: Patients who underwent CABG in western Sweden were approached prior to surgery and 5 years after the operation. Health-related QoL was estimated with the Physical Activity Score, 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%) responded 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 improvement in both hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients in terms of physical activity, symptoms of dyspnea and chest pain and other estimates of health-related QoL. However, physical activity and dyspnea improved less in hypertensive 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 marked in patients with a history of hypertension. Overall, a history of hypertension seemed to have a minor impact on improved well-being 5 years after coronary surgery. However, because of the limited response rate the results may not be applicable in a non-selected CABG population.

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