The determinants of CABG patients' outcomes

This study examined the self-reported health status of 90 patients who had undergone Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). Data were collected by the Short Form-36 (SF-36) instrument, administered twice at preoperative and postoperative periods. The reliability of the SF-36 ranged from 0.68 to 0.93 in the analysis of preoperative and postoperative measures of health status. The CABG patients reported markedly lower health status on all eight SF-36 dimensions at the preoperative period and considerable improvements on all dimensions at the postoperative period. The assessment of CABG patients' outcomes showed that perceived usefulness of the procedure contributed positively to their perceived health status when the effect of preoperative health status was controlled. Patients who perceived the CABG procedure as useful appeared to have more improved postoperative health status after the procedure.