Quality of life after surgical treatment of coarctation in long-term follow-up (CoAFU): Predictive value of clinical variables

Background We sought to analyze the quality of life and the predictive value of clinical variables from previous follow-up study in patients late after surgical treatment of aortic coarctation on the quality of life. Methods All patients, who have participated in the prospective cross-sectional COALA Study in 2000 with a structural clinical investigation including blood pressure measurement and symptom-limited exercise test were contacted for the health-related quality of life questionnaire SF-36 from January 2013 through December 2014. Results From 273 eligible patients, we received data from 135 patients, 9 of them died during the follow-up time at the median age of 46years (range 30–64years). Seventy-four patients did not participate in the study, other 64 patients moved to remote or unknown areas and could not be contacted. Quality of life was good in the fields of physical role and pain. However, patients reported a significant impairment in general health and in health transition, depending on the age. Arterial hypertension and variables from echocardiography or exercise testing from the COALA study were not predictive on functional health status. Conclusion Quality of life in patients late after aortic coarctation repair is fairly good compared with healthy controls. Impairments in general health and health transition depend mainly on age, can be explained due to numerous comorbidities and reinterventions in long-term. The predictive value of the commonly assessed clinical variables on quality of life is limited.