The impact of peripheral vascular disease on long-term survival after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

BACKGROUND: Although peripheral vascular disease is known to negatively affect overall survival, its effects on survival after surgical myocardial revascularization have not been well described. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of peripheral vascular disease on long-term survival after coronary artery bypass grafting.

METHODS: We reviewed records of 1,164 consecutive patients (370 with peripheral vascular disease and 794 without it) who underwent primary isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery between 1997 and 2007. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were used to analyze variables associated with early outcomes. We assessed long-term survival by using Kaplan-Meier curves generated by log-rank tests, adjusting for confounding factors with Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.

RESULTS: Patients with peripheral vascular disease were generally sicker and had more comorbidities than patients without peripheral vascular disease. The presence of peripheral vascular disease does not predict increased rates of 30-day mortality or major adverse cardiac events. However, after controlling for potential confounding factors, patients with peripheral vascular disease had a significantly worse 9-year survival rate than patients without peripheral vascular disease (72.9% +/- 4.1% versus 82.8% +/- 2.4%; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.7; 95% confidence interval: 1.2 to 2.4; p = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS: Although peripheral vascular disease does not affect early outcomes in coronary artery bypass operations, it is an independent predictor of poor long-term survival among patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Identifying the mechanism that underlies this difference is important for improving survival in patients with peripheral vascular disease who undergo surgical myocardial revascularization.