Coronary artery bypass grafting in elderly patients may be associated with significant improvements in health-related quality of life.
Systematic Review (n=4,793)
Does coronary artery bypass grafting improve health-related quality of life in elderly patients?
CABG in elderly patients is associated with significant improvements in health-related quality of life, supporting its use for symptomatic benefit rather than just mortality reduction.
Traditional outcome measures such as long-term mortality may be of less value than symptomatic improvement in elderly patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In this systematic review, we analyse health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as a marker of outcome after CABG. We aimed to assess the role of HRQOL tools in making recommendations for elderly patients undergoing surgery, where symptomatic and quality-of-life improvement may often be the key indications for intervention. Twenty-three studies, encompassing 4793 patients were included. Overall, elderly patients underwent CABG at reasonably low risk. Our findings, therefore, support the conclusion that performing CABG in the elderly may be associated with significant improvements in HRQOL. In order to overcome previous methodological limitations, future work must clearly define and stringently follow-up this elderly population, to develop a more robust, sensitive and specialty-specific HRQOL tool.
Baig et al. (2013) conducted a systematic review in Coronary artery disease requiring CABG (n=4,793). Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was evaluated on Health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Coronary artery bypass grafting in elderly patients may be associated with significant improvements in health-related quality of life.