ORIGINAL ARTICLES  CARDIAC PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2001 April;42(2):165-73

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Physical activity, symptoms of chest pain and dyspnea in patients with ischemic heart disease in relation to age before and two years after coronary artery bypass grafting

Herlitz J., Karlson B. W., Sjöland H., Albertsson P., Brandrup-Wognsen G., Hartford M., Haglid M., Karlsson T., Lindelöw B., Caidahl K.

From the Division of Cardiology Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden

Background. To ­describe lim­i­ta­tion of phys­i­cal activ­ity, ­cause of lim­i­ta­tion of phys­i­cal activ­ity ­and symp­toms of dysp­nea ­and ­chest ­pain in rela­tion to ­age ­before ­and 2 ­years ­after cor­o­nary ­artery ­bypass graft­ing (­CABG).
Methods. All ­patients ­from West­ern Sweden ­who under­went ­CABG with­out con­com­i­tant pro­ce­dures dur­ing 3 ­years in 1989-1991 ­answered ques­tion­naires ­before, ­and 2 ­years ­after ­the oper­a­tion. Patients ­were divid­ed ­into 3 ­age ­groups of ­equal ­size i.e. 32-59 ­years, 60-67 ­years ­and ≥68 ­years.
Results. In ­total, 2121 ­patients par­tic­i­pat­ed in ­the eval­u­a­tion. The over­all 2 ­year mor­tal­ity in ­the 3 ­age ­groups ­was 3.8%, 6.8% ­and 12.2% (p<0.001). Limitation of phys­i­cal activ­ity ­was sig­nif­i­cant­ly asso­ciat­ed ­with ­age ­prior to sur­gery ­but ­not there­af­ter. Improvement in phys­i­cal activ­ity, fol­low­ing ­CABG, ­was sig­nif­i­cant in ­all ­age ­groups. The pro­por­tion of ­patients ­being ­free of ­dyspnea ­increased mark­ed­ly regard­less of ­age. The num­ber of ­chest ­pain ­attacks ­was asso­ciat­ed ­with ­age ­after ­CABG, i.e. few­er ­attacks in ­the eld­er­ly, ­but ­such an asso­ci­a­tion ­was ­not ­found ­prior to sur­gery. Improvement in ­num-­ber of ­chest ­pain ­attacks ­was ­more ­marked in ­the eld­er­ly.
Conclusions. Physical activ­ity ­improved sim­i­lar­ly in ­all ­age ­groups ­after ­CABG. Attacks of ­chest ­pain, ­although sig­nif­i­cant­ly ­reduced in ­all ­age ­groups, ­seemed ­more effec­tive­ly ­reduced in ­the eld­er­ly.