Relationships of working status and cardiac capacity to functional age before and after coronary bypass surgery

In 77 patients having coronary bypass surgery, we evaluated the interaction between chronological age, functional age, and working status pre- and postoperatively. Preoperatively the chronological age of those not working compared to those working was 60.7 +/- 8.4 years versus 53.0 +/- 8.3 years (P less than 0.001). The preoperative functional ages were 93.5 +/- 11.5 versus 87.6 +/- 10.9 years (P less than 0.05). Postoperatively no patient who was not working preoperatively started work, although functional age improved from 93.5 +/- 11.5 to 83.2 +/- 12.8 years (P less than 0.001). Postoperatively subjects who stopped working showed similar improvement in maximal cardiac output, and maximal oxygen consumption compared to those who continued working; however, the functional age after surgery was 80.6 +/- 9.4 versus 69.6 +/- 11.6 years (P less than 0.01). This study showed a poor relationship between degree of improvement in cardiac function after bypass surgery and change in working status. However, functional age and chronological age contribute to the poor results with regard to return to work.