Raidou V, Mitete K, Kourek C, Antonopoulos M, Soulele T, Kolovou K, Vlahodimitris I, Vasileiadis I, Dimopoulos S. Quality of life and functional capacity in patients after cardiac surgery intensive care unit. World J Cardiol 2024; 16(8): 436-447 [PMID: 39221189 DOI: 10.4330/wjc.v16.i8.436]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Stavros Dimopoulos, MD, PhD, Director, Clinical Ergospirometry, Exercise & Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of First Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 45-47 Ipsilantou Street, Athens 10676, Greece. stdimop@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Rehabilitation
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Cardiol. Aug 26, 2024; 16(8): 436-447 Published online Aug 26, 2024. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v16.i8.436
Quality of life and functional capacity in patients after cardiac surgery intensive care unit
Vasiliki Raidou, Katerina Mitete, Christos Kourek, Michael Antonopoulos, Theodora Soulele, Kyriaki Kolovou, Ioannis Vlahodimitris, Ioannis Vasileiadis, Stavros Dimopoulos
Vasiliki Raidou, Katerina Mitete, Christos Kourek, Ioannis Vasileiadis, Stavros Dimopoulos, Clinical Ergospirometry, Exercise, and Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of First Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 10676, Greece
Michael Antonopoulos, Theodora Soulele, Kyriaki Kolovou, Ioannis Vlahodimitris, Stavros Dimopoulos, Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens 17674, Greece
Co-first authors: Vasiliki Raidou and Katerina Mitete.
Author contributions: Raidou V, Mitete K, Kourek C, and Antonopoulos M performed the literature research; Raidou V, Mitete K, and Kourek C wrote the paper; Soulele T, Kolovou K, Vlahodimitris I, and Vasileiadis I analyzed the literature and revised the paper; Dimopoulos S read the final draft and approved the manuscript. Raidou V and Mitete K have made crucial and indispensable contributions towards the completion of the project and thus qualified as the co-first authors of the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Stavros Dimopoulos, MD, PhD, Director, Clinical Ergospirometry, Exercise & Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of First Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 45-47 Ipsilantou Street, Athens 10676, Greece. stdimop@gmail.com
Received: December 28, 2023 Revised: June 24, 2024 Accepted: July 22, 2024 Published online: August 26, 2024 Processing time: 241 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract
Coronary heart disease and aortic stenosis are prevalent cardiovascular diseases worldwide, leading to morbidity and mortality. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) have therapeutic benefits, including improved postoperative quality of life (QoL) and enhanced patient functional capacity which are key indicators of cardiac surgery outcome. In this article, we review the latest studies of QoL outcomes and functional capacity in patients who underwent cardiac surgery. Many standardized instruments are used to evaluate QoL and functional conditions. Preoperative health status, age, length of intensive care unit stay, operative risk, type of procedure, and other pre-, intra-, and postoperative factors affect postoperative QoL. Elderly patients experience impaired physical status soon after cardiac surgery, but it improves in the following period. CABG and SAVR are associated with increases of physical and mental health and functional capacity in the immediate postoperative and the long long-term. Cardiac rehabilitation improves patient functional capacity, QoL, and frailty following cardiac surgery.
Core Tip: Health-related quality of life (QoL) and functional capacity are the main indicators of patient outcome after cardiac surgery. Preoperative health condition, age, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, operative risk, type of procedure, perioperative complications and comorbidities are the primary determinants of QoL after ICU discharge. Following heart surgery, the physical status of elderly patients is lower than that of younger patients but improves over time. The results of studies of patient health status and functional ability after cardiac surgery reveal significant short- and long-term improvement of QoL and functional capacity. Cardiac rehabilitation has a central role in the recovery of function.
