The occurrence of depression in patients following coronary artery bypass graft surgery

A descriptive correlation study was conducted with 110 postoperative coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients at the Naval Regional Medical Center, San Diego, California. The purpose of the research project was to determine the occurrence of depression in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients who were up to 12-months post surgery, establish a common time of occurrence and identify any relationships of variables with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and depression. A mail survey was utilized an questionnaire packets were mailed simultaneously to subject. Evidence of depression was based on scores from the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, while relationships between variables were identified from information obtained from a personal profile questionnaire. Statistical analysis revealed 18.6% of the sample clinically depressed. The use of an exclusive military sample somewhat limited the comparison of the findings to the national depression occurrence of 17.3% of the general population. However, there was a positive finding of higher depression scores within the first one to three months following CABG surgery. Furthermore, statistically significant relationships were found between satisfaction with surgical outcome, felling as well as expected and the number of postoperative complications, with findings of depression in CABG patients.