title: Defining neuropsychological dysfunction after coronary artery bypass grafting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the large body of literature documenting the presence of cognitive decline after coronary artery bypass grafting, there is little consensus as to the frequency and extent of cognitive impairment. One potential reason for this lack of agreement is the absence of uniform criteria for assessing cognitive decline.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred thirty-two patients underwent cognitive testing the day before operation and were examined before discharge, and at 6 weeks and 6 months after grafting. For comparative purposes, five different sets of criteria were used to define cognitive decline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was little agreement between the criteria as to which patients declined at each test period. The incidence of decline ranged from 66% to 15.3% before discharge, 34% to 1.1% at 6 weeks, and 19.4% to 3.4% at 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A large variation in reported incidence of cognitive decline after coronary artery bypass grafting can be attributed to the different criteria used to define cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 22710, USA.
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Mahanna
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Blumenthal
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Croughwell
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Clancy
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Newman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results