Return to work after coronary angioplasty: A report from the national heart, lung, and blood institute percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty registry

Employment status was analyzed in 2,250 patients enrolled at 65 clinical centers in the NHLBI PTCA Registry. Patients were classified into 3 groups depending on the outcome of PTCA. In 63.6%, PTCA was successful without MI or CABG (Group A); in 25.3%, PTCA was unsuccessful and was followed by CABG (Group B); and in 11.1%, PTCA was unsuccessful and was followed by medical therapy alone (Group C). At entry, 68.3% of all patients were employed full- or part-time. The clinical characteristics of the 3 groups were different. Patients in Group C had a higher incidence of previous MI and previous CABG. In addition, patients in Group C had a significantly decreased baseline employment rate compared with those in Group A. At a mean follow-up of 1.5 years, there was a small but similar decrease in the percentage employed fullor part-time in all groups. Employment status also was analyzed in a subset of 1,150 patients working full- or part-time at baseline and aged 60 years or younger, who would be expected to have the highest return to work rates. At a mean follow-up of 1.4 years, 81 to 86% of patients remained working irrespective of the outcome of PTCA. However, patients with successful PTCA returned to work significantly sooner. The occurrence of chest pain during follow-up in these patients was an important predictor of return to work, irrespective of the outcome of dilatation. In patients with chest pain during follow-up, only 77% were working, compared with 90% of patients who had not had chest pain.