Anxiety & Neuropsychologic al Performance in Coronary Artery Bypass Patients Antonio E. Puente, Julian Keith & Stephen Williams University of North Carolina at Wilmington USA Congreso Interamericano de Psicologia Caracas, Venezuela
Neuropsychology n Defined n Applications
Bypass Surgery n Description n Role of Neuropsychological Assessment n Prior Research n Difficulties with Existing Studies
Coronary Bypass Study n Preliminary & Post-hoc Findings n NIH Study n Initial Findings
Acceleration of Normal Aging Process n Tests= Computerized n Participants= 40 pts, 49 volunteers n Preoperatively= No group differences n Post-operatively= Pts worse than controls; Non-verbal worse than verbal
Purpose of Current Study n Examine Variables Affecting Neuropsychological Performance n Specifically, Determine Whether Anxiety is a Critical Variable
Method n Participants & Groups for Initial and Ongoing Studies n Neuropsychological Tests n Procedure
Initial Study n Tests: computerized n Bypass Patients: N= 21, Age= 61 n Non-surgery Patients: N= 26, Age= 56 n Surgery Patients: N= 8, Age= 61
Ongoing Study n Tests: Similar computerized n Bypass Patients: N= 40, Age= 62, tested between 1 and 30 days after surgery n Controls: N= 49, Age= 62, non- hospitalized
Results n Neuropsychological Findings n Role of Anxiety
Initial Study n Measure: Mean Change Score on State Anxiety n Bypass: -5.1 (11.8) n Non-Surgery: 2.62 (7.7) n Surgery: -.13 (5.1)
Initial Study (cont) n Bypass: n Non-Surgery: n Surgery:
Initial Results (cont) n Pearson Product-Moment Correlations: n Significant between several neuropsychological tests n Non-significant between State Anxiety scores and any neuropsychological test score
Ongoing Study n Measure: Standard scores n Pre-operative: Non-significant but higher scores for bypass n Post-operative: Non-significant but higher scores for controls; however, significant treatment X session interaction (p.0054)
Discussion n Summary of Initial Study n Summary of Ongoing Study n Implications for the Study of Anxiety & Cognition