COMPARISON OF FUNCTIONAL HEALTH STATUS BEFORE AND AFTER CARDIAC INTERVENTIONS IN AUSTRALIA AND THE USA
C.N. Aroney*, P.T. Tesar, K. Love, J.H.N. Bett.
Cardiac Unit, Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland.
Improvement in functional health outcome is the primary indication for coronary revascularisation procedures. Australia and the USA have differing coronary intervention rates. We sought to evaluate differences in baseline characteristics and improvements in health outcome after coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and bypass surgery (CABG) between patients at the Prince Charles Hospital (PCH) and a comparable US institution (Texas Medical Center).
Methods: The Short form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire was administered prior to and at 3, 6 and 12 months after intervention to 165 consecutive patients undergoing PTCA and 140 patients undergoing CABG at PCH.
Results: Pre-intervention health status across almost all 8 scales of function in both PTCA and CABG groups were higher in the US than the PCH patients. Functional status improved similarly following PTCA or CABG in both Australian and US patients. In contrast to the hospital data, the functional health status (also measured by the SF-36) of the general Queensland population is higher than that of the general US population.
Conclusion: Australian patients referred for cardiac interventions have a lower functional health status than comparable patients from the USA. Revascularisation improves health status by a similar degree in both Australia and the USA.
