title: Cognitive self-assessment one year after on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is associated with significant cerebral morbidity. This is usually manifested as cognitive decline and may be caused by cardiopulmonary bypass. The primary objective of this study was to explore whether patients report more cognitive failures 1 year after CABG than preoperatively. Secondary objectives were to evaluate whether there is a difference in reported cognitive failures between patients undergoing on-pump and off-pump CABG and whether a difference between CABG patients and healthy control subjects exists. Finally the relation between objective and subjective cognitive functioning was quantified.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this prospective study, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) was assigned preoperatively and 1 year postoperatively to 81 patients who were randomly assigned to undergo off-pump (n = 45) or on-pump (n = 36) CABG. A control sample of 112 age-matched healthy subjects was included who were administered the CFQ once.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No difference was found in the total CFQ score (p = 0.222) and CFQ worry score (p = 0.207) between 1 year after CABG and before CABG. There was no difference between on-pump and off-pump CABG (total score, p = 0.458; worry score, p = 0.563). A significant difference was found in CFQ total score between CABG patients and control subjects (p < 0.001), with control subjects reporting more cognitive failures than CABG patients. Finally, patients who showed cognitive decline in the Octopus trial did not have a higher CFQ total score (p = 0.671) and CFQ worry score (p = 0.772) than patients without cognitive decline 1 year after CABG.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings suggest that CABG does not result in a substantial proportion of patients with subjectively experienced cognitive decline 1 year after the procedure, irrespective of the type of surgical technique (on-pump versus off-pump).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. a.keizer@azu.nl
authors.forename: Annemieke M A
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Keizer
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hijman
authors.forename: Diederik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: Cor J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kalkman
authors.forename: René S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kahn
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012647:Self-Assessment