Predictors of Chest Pain after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

To identify preoperative biopsychosocial factors characterizing patients who will experience chest pain (self-reported) one year after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), 111 patients under 61 years of age were evaluated by questionnaire before CABG and 12 months postoperatively. A ?Coronary Health Profile? was evolved to study quality-of-life indicators, e.g. ?Sense of Coherence? (SOC), emotional state (loneliness, depressed mood, stress, anxiety) and social support as well as experience of chest pain, and the results were correlated to biomedical data. Chest pain was experienced in the first postoperative year by 34% of the patients. These patients, who were younger than those without chest pain, generally had a body mass index >25, as well as lower preoperative values for SOC, poorer emotional state and social support. Independent predictors in a multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis were moderate/weak SOC, ejection fraction