1. 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

2. Neuropsychology n Defined n Applications

3. Bypass Surgery n Description n Role of Neuropsychological Assessment n Prior Research n Difficulties with Existing Studies

4. Coronary Bypass Study n Preliminary & Post-hoc Findings n NIH Study n Initial Findings

5. 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

6. Purpose of Current Study n Examine Variables Affecting Neuropsychological Performance n Specifically, Determine Whether Anxiety is a Critical Variable

7. Method n Participants & Groups for Initial and Ongoing Studies n Neuropsychological Tests n Procedure

8. 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

9. 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

10. Results n Neuropsychological Findings n Role of Anxiety

11. 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)

12. Initial Study (cont) n Bypass: 39.435.3 n Non-Surgery:36.739.4 n Surgery:34.534.4

13. 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

14. 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)

15. Discussion n Summary of Initial Study n Summary of Ongoing Study n Implications for the Study of Anxiety & Cognition