Chest pain after coronary artery bypass: relation to coping capacity and quality of life.

Objective: To investigate relations between chest pain after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), quality of life (QoL), and coping capacity.

Design: Two groups were included, Group I (n = 111) was evaluated before and 1 year postoperatively, and Group II (n = 102) once, at 3 years. The questionnaire included parts of the Seattle angina questionnaire, one question concerning chest pain, coping capacity (sense of coherence), emotional state, the Psychological general well-being index, and a global QoL question.

Results: Chest pain was significantly related to lower coping capacity (at 1 year) and lower QoL scores (at 1 and 3 years). Changes of coping capacity and emotional state from before to 1 year after the CABG did not reach statistical significance in the chest pain group while the no chest pain patients had significantly better emotional state. The relation between chest pain and worse QoL was significantly reduced by high coping capacity.

Conclusion: Independent of the direction of causality, the patient's coping capacity and experienced chest pain is highly related.