Chest pain after coronary artery bypass: relation to coping capacity and quality of life.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate relations between chest pain after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), quality of life (QoL), and coping capacity.


METHODS
Two groups were included, Group I (n = 111) was evaluated before and 1 year postoperatively, and Group II (n = 102) once, at 3 years. The questionnaire included parts of the Seattle angina questionnaire, one question concerning chest pain, coping capacity (sense of coherence), emotional state, the Psychological general well-being index, and a global QoL question.


RESULTS
Chest pain was significantly related to lower coping capacity (at 1 year) and lower QoL scores (at 1 and 3 years). Changes of coping capacity and emotional state from before to 1 year after the CABG did not reach statistical significance in the chest pain group while the no chest pain patients had significantly better emotional state. The relation between chest pain and worse QoL was significantly reduced by high coping capacity.


CONCLUSIONS
Independent of the direction of causality, the patient's coping capacity and experienced chest pain is highly related.
Karlsson
Ingela
I
Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, The Cardiovascular Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Göteborg University, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden. karlsson.ingela@swipnet.se
Rasmussen
Christian
C
Ravn
Jesper
J
Thiis
Jens J
JJ
Pettersson
Gösta
G
Larsso
Pär A
PA
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000523:psychology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011300:Preoperative Care; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012008:Recurrence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires