Psychopathology observed on follow-up after coronary bypass surgery.

Forty-six of 51 coronary bypass patients whose inhospital postoperative adjustment was reported earlier, were studied about 18 months postoperatively. In addition, 32 of 46 cardiac valvular surgery patients were seen as a comparison group. The incidence of postoperative psychiatric symptoms observed in the hospital, eight of 51 (16 per cent), and on follow-up, seven of 46 (15 per cent), was very similar; however, the patients who had these psychiatric symptoms comprised two almost entirely different groups. There were no indications that patients who developed psychiatric symptoms in the immediate postoperative period than patients asymptomatic postoperatively. There was a significant relationship between preoperative psychiatric illness and symptoms in the follow-up period.