Coronary artery surgery as a measure of vocational rehabilitation: an analysis of the working status of patients with mild angina randomly assigned to medical or surgical treatment.

Work status was studied in 76 male patients under the age of 60, who had been randomly assigned to surgical or medical treatment for coronary artery disease with relatively stable angina (Class I or II NYHA) One year after catheterization or surgery, there were as many patients employed in the medical (84%) as in the surgical (81%) groups, despite a marked improvement of functional symptoms in the latter group; 8% in surgical patients and 11% in medical patients were on social welfare. Surgery did not improve work resumption in patients who had been unemployed for seven months or more before inclusion into the study (71%, versus 67% in medical patients). It is concluded that aorto-coronary bypass surgery cannot be considered as a measure of vocational rehabilitation sufficient to improve employment in patients with mild stable angina, when compared to medical treatment.