Gender as a moderator between having an anxiety disorder diagnosis and coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG) outcomes in rural patients.

Purpose: This paper examines gender as a moderating variable between having an anxiety disorder diagnosis and coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG) outcomes in rural patients.

Methods: Using the 2008 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database, 17,885 discharge records of patients who underwent a primary CABG surgery were identified. Independent variables included age, gender, race, median household income based on patient's ZIP code, primary expected payer, the Deyo, Cherkin, and Ciol Comorbidity Index, and an anxiety comorbidity diagnosis.