Investigation of Quality of Life After Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: A 10-Year Long-Term Follow-Up Study

Background. Quality of life (QoL) is a multifactorial concept that is used to assess physical and mental health. This cross-sectional study administered the Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) and a sociodemographic datasheet to evaluate the QoL of patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Aim. With this study, we aimed to determine the quality of life of patients who had open heart surgery years later. Methods. Patients who underwent elective isolated CABG from January to December 2011 in the cardiovascular disease’s clinic of a hospital in Eastern Turkey were recruited, after which data were collected from them via telephone and mail. One patient was contacted by mail, and 32 others were contacted by telephone. The data were examined through the analysis of numbers of percentages, mean values, and standard deviations. The Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Walli’s test, and correlation analysis were also conducted. Results. Of the patients who underwent surgery, 33 responded to our survey. Their mean age was 69.03±10.91 years. The results showed that gender, marital status, and educational attainment affected the mean SF-36 scores of the participants (p < 0.05) and that the mean QoL score of the patients was low. Conclusion. Considering the mean age of the respondents, studies that compare such patients with those who did not undergo surgery should be carried out.