Post-surgical health and pain assessment for elderly submitted to cardiac surgery

The aim of the present study was to assess health and pain among elderly patients with coronary heart disease who had been submitted to cardiac surgery. This is a prospective analytical study with a cross-sectional design and quantitative approach. The data was collected from a physical therapy assessment chart and the numerical pain scale involving 70 elderly individuals who underwent cardiac surgery at two hospitals in Natal, RN, Brazil. The most frequent age range was between 60 and 69 years (61.43%), 62.86% of whom were men. With respect to health conditions, 61.43% of the elderly presented pre-existing pathologies, the most common of which was systemic arterial hypertension (31.40%). Pain behavior was modest on the 1st and 3rd and mild on the 2nd and 4th days after operation. Most of the elderly submitted to cardiac surgery were men at the onset of old age who presented pre-existing pathologies, the most frequent of which was hypertension and with predominantly moderate pain intensity. DESCRIPTORS: Elderly. Health status. Cardiac surgery. EVALUACION DE LA SALUD Y EL DOLOR EN EL POSTOPERATORIO DE ANCIANOS SOMETIDOS A CIRUGIA CARDIACA RESUMEN: El presente estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar la salud y el dolor en pacientes ancianos con insuficiencia coronaria sometidos a cirugia cardiaca. Esta es una investigacion de caracter analitico, transversal, con enfoque cuantitativo. La recoleccion de los datos se hizo por medio de una ficha de evaluacion fisioterapeutica usando tambien la escala numerica de dolor, con 70 pacientes ancianos sometidos a cirugia cardiaca en dos hospitales en la ciudad de Natal/RN, Brasil. El rango de edad mas frecuente fue de 60 a 69 anos (61,43%), mayoria hombres (62,86%). En relacion con el estado de salud el 61,43% de los sujetos tenian enfermedades preexistentes, siendo la de mayor distribucion la hipertension arterial (31.40%). El comportamiento del dolor fue moderado en el 1° y 3° dias, y leve en el 2° y 4° dias despues de la operacion. Por lo tanto, se constato que la mayoria de los pacientes ancianos sometidos a cirugia cardiaca eran del sexo masculino, que tenian patologias preexistentes, con la hipertension arterial como la patologia mas frecuente y con predominio de la intensidad del dolor moderado. DESCRIPTORES: Ancianos. Estado de salud. Cirugia cardiaca.