HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Egidius H.L. van Aarnhem Cornelius Borst Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by van Dijk, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by van Dijk, D. Related Collections Coronary disease Related Article

---

Original Articles: Cardiovascular

Cognitive Outcomes Five Years After Not Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

^a Department of Anesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
^b Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
^c Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
^d Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
^e Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Accepted for publication August 15, 2007.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr van Dijk, University Medical Center Utrecht, Division of Perioperative and Emergency Care (Mail stop Q.04.2.313), PO Box 85500, Utrecht, 3508 GA, the Netherlands (Email: d.vandijk{at}umcutrecht.nl).

Background: Patients with coronary artery disease who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery have a high risk of cognitive decline 5 years after the procedure. It is conceivable that this is not caused by the operation, but by natural aging.

Methods: Psychologists repeatedly administered a battery of seven neuropsychological tests with eight main variables to 112 subjects without known coronary artery disease, with a time interval of 5 years. Cognitive decline was defined as deterioration in performance beyond normal variation in at least two of the eight main variables. The incidence of cognitive decline in the control subjects was compared with the incidence of cognitive decline in the 281 participants of the Octopus Study, who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery 5 years earlier. Patients and control subjects were age-matched.

Results: After 5 years, cognitive outcome could be determined in 99 of 112 control subjects (88%) and 240 of 281 coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients (85%). Cognitive decline was present in 82 (34.2%) of 240 coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients and in 16 (16.2%) of 99 control subjects (crude odds ratio, 2.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.48 to 4.90). However, after correction for differences in age, sex, education, and baseline comorbidity between the patients and the control subjects, the odds ratio was 1.37 (95% confidence interval, 0.65 to 2.92).

Conclusions: We were unable to demonstrate that patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery have more cognitive decline after 5 years than control subjects without coronary artery disease.

Related Article

Invited commentary

Todd K. Rosengart
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2008 85: 64. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. K. Rosengart Invited commentary Ann. Thorac. Surg., January 1, 2008; 85(1): 64 - 64. [Full Text] [PDF]