Elena Johnson
In order to better understand how preoperative depressive symptoms and postoperative length of stay in patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) are related, this study looked at preoperative and postoperative C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) was used to assess the preoperative depressive symptoms in 212 elective CABG patients. Prior to surgery, information about the patient's clinical and demographic characteristics was obtained from medical records. Patients were monitored during their stay in the hospital to assess the CRP response to CABG surgery early (1 day-3 days after surgery) and persistently (4-6 days after surgery). A longer postoperative hospital stay was significantly (p=0.001) correlated with a higher persistent CRP response. The connection between persistent CRP change and extended hospital stays was verified by the binary logistic regression analysis (OR=1.017, 95% CI=1.005 to 1.029, p=0.009). When the gender subgroups were examined separately, only the male subgroup's significance persisted (OR=1.016, 95% CI=1.004 to 1.028, p=0.005). Higher BDI-II depression scores did not significantly correlate with a longer postoperative hospital stay. Furthermore, no discernible relationship between BDI-II scores and preoperative or postoperative CRP levels, or the other way around, was found. The degree and potential mechanisms by which depression may affect the postoperative recovery of CABG patients require further investigation.