Quality of Life After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft: Results From the POST CABG Trial

Abstract

The POST CABG (Post Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) Trial showed that aggressive lowering of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels reduced the progression of atherosclerosis in saphenous vein grafts. In the extended follow-up phase, aggressive lowering of LDL cholesterol levels was associated with reduced rates of clinical events. Low-dose anticoagulation therapy did not reduce the progression of atherosclerosis. We conducted this analysis to determine the effects of both lipid-lowering and low-dose anticoagulation therapy on health-related quality of life (HRQL). Randomized clinical trial, factorial design. Outpatients in five tertiary care medical centers. A cohort of 852 patients enrolled in the POST CABG Trial completed an HRQL questionnaire at baseline, and at the year 2 and year 4 follow-up visits. Aggressive LDL cholesterol lowering vs moderate LDL cholesterol lowering, and low-dose warfarin vs placebo. Domains included emotional status, basic physical and social functioning, perceived health status, symptoms of pain, a variety of physical symptoms, and global life satisfaction. Overall, there were no indications of systematic differences among treatment groups for any of the HRQL parameters at baseline, year 2, or year 4. These data indicate that patients did not experience detrimental or beneficial effects on HRQL parameters while receiving LDL cholesterol-lowering therapy that had demonstrable benefits for treatment of atherosclerosis.