Objectives: To describe the characteristics and the severity of symptoms amongst patients on the waiting list for possible coronary revascularization.
Design: All the patients were sent a postal questionnaire for symptom evaluation.
Setting: All hospitals in western Sweden.
Subjects: All patients in western Sweden on the waiting list in September 1990, who had been referred for coronary angiography or revascularization (n = 904) and a sex- and age-matched reference group (n = 809).
Results: More than half of the patients had daily attacks of chest pain, whereas 16% reported less than one attack per week or no pain at all. However, other symptoms such as dyspnoea, tachycardia and nervous reactions were also common and 25% of all patients used sedatives. A long waiting time for a given procedure was not associated with more pain but with more nervous symptoms such as restlessness and insomnia (P < 0.0001) and greater use of sedatives and cigarettes (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: We conclude that a long waiting time for possible coronary revascularization is associated with more nervous symptoms but not with more pain.