Health-related quality of life and post-traumatic stress disorder in patients after cardiac surgery and intensive care treatment.
OBJECTIVE
Health-related quality of life and patient satisfaction have become important end points in cardiac surgery. Post-traumatic stress disorder has been described in patients with life-threatening heart disease. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder in a sample of patients after cardiac surgery and compared health-related quality of life and patient satisfaction between patients with and without evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder.


METHODS
We studied 80 patients serially admitted to the intensive care unit after cardiac surgery (bypass grafting, n = 51; aortic valve replacement, n = 29). Health-related quality of life was assessed with the use of the SF-36 Health Status Questionnaire. Post-traumatic stress disorder was measured with a previously validated instrument (the Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome 10-Questions Inventory), and 20 different aspects of life satisfaction were quantified on a scale ranging from 0 to 10. For measurements of health-related quality of life and post-traumatic stress disorder, age- and gender-comparable healthy individuals, as well as patients with cardiovascular diseases, served as control groups.


RESULTS
Patients who had cardiac surgery described high life satisfaction summary scores (156 of a maximum of 200 points) and only small impairments in physical and mental SF-36 summary scores when compared with healthy control groups (median reduction 7.15, P <.05). Patients with evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (n = 15) reported the lowest SF-36 mental health summary scores when compared with patients without stress disorder (38.3 vs 48.4, P =.004) and rated their life satisfaction lower (121.5 vs 162.0, P =.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients who have had cardiac surgery demonstrate a high life satisfaction with an acceptable degree of physical and mental health-related quality of life. Impairments in psychosocial function and life satisfaction were found in a subgroup of patients with evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Stoll
C
C
Departments of Anaesthesiology, Cardiac Surgery, and Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. christian.stoll@ana.med.uni-muenchen.de
Schelling
G
G
Goetz
A E
AE
Kilger
E
E
Bayer
A
A
Kapfhammer
H P
HP
Rothenhäusler
H B
HB
Kreuzer
E
E
Reichart
B
B
Peter
K
K
D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications*