Quality of life in women and men after coronary artery bypass surgery

Objectives: To evaluate sex-specific trajectories of quality of life (QoL) after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and longitudinally assess changes in QoL in women compared with men. Methods: This analysis included patients enrolled in a European multicenter registry (December 2016 to August 2019) who underwent isolated CABG and had complete European QoL-5 Dimension-5 Level (EQ-5D-5L) QoL assessments at baseline and at least 1 follow-up evaluated at 1 month, 1 year, and annually up to 4 years thereafter. The primary outcome was the sex-specific change in EQ-5D-5L index value from baseline. Secondary outcomes included the change from baseline in the individual EQ-5D-5L dimension scores. Mixed-effects models with repeated measures were used to analyze longitudinal changes. Results: < .0001), persisting throughout follow-up. Conclusions: Although women experienced delayed recovery and greater psychological burden in the early postoperative period, they ultimately achieved comparable long-term improvements in QoL.