Factors influencing return to work at one year after coronary bypass graft surgery: results of the PERISCOP study

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive factors of return to work after coronary bypass graft surgery, for the subgroup of professionally active patients aged less than 60 years included in the PERISCOP study. Methods In the principal, prospective, multicentre study, 2065 patients were evaluated 20 ± 10 days after surgery by exercise testing, echocardiogram and 24-h ambulatory ECG monitoring. A questionnaire was completed one year after surgery. We studied a subgroup of this population, consisting of 530 patients previously defined (94.5% men; mean age: 50.5 ± 5.8 years). Results One year after surgery, five of these patients had died and 21 were lost to follow-up. Among the remaining patients, 340 patients (67.5%) had returned to work. Forty patients (7.9%) had retired, 45 (8.9%) were on sick leave, 22 (4.4%) were unemployed, 49 (9.7%) returned to work after the deadline of 12 months, eight (1.6%) had given insufficient information on return to work. In multivariate analysis, the independent predictors of a failure to return to work were age > 51 years [OR: 0.39 (95% CI: 0.25-0.59)], being a manual worker [OR: 0.49 (95% CI: 0.31-0.79)], being from South East France [(OR: 0.42 (95% CI: 0.23-0.74)], presence of angina [OR: 0.40 (95% CI: 0.20-0.82)], dyspnoea [(OR: 0.46 (95% CI: 0.28-0.77)] and a duration of exercise < 420s [(OR: 0.50 (95% CI: 0.33-0.76)]. Conclusions Return to work after coronary bypass graft surgery is observed in 67.5% of cases and depends essentially on socio-professional factors and residual symptoms. A regional effect was also observed, which requires further study.