Quality of Life after PCI vs. CABG among Patients with Diabetes and Multivessel CAD: Results from the FREEDOM Trial

CABG resulted in slightly greater angina frequency relief than DES-PCI at the 1-year and 2-year follow-up time points, with a mean treatment benefit of 1.3 points on the SAQ-AF subscale at 24 months (

Effect: improvement; 1.3 points (CABG-PCI difference at 24 months); CI: 95% CI 0.3 to 2.2

CABG provided greater improvement in physical limitation scores than DES-PCI between 12 and 36 months, with the largest difference of 4.4 points at 24 months (p<0.001). DES-PCI provided faster early r

Effect: improvement; 4.4 points (CABG-PCI difference at 24 months); CI: 95% CI 2.7 to 6.1

CABG provided slightly better quality of life scores than DES-PCI between 12 months and 2 years, with a mean treatment benefit of 2.2 points on the SAQ-QoL subscale at 24 months (p=0.003). DES-PCI was

Effect: improvement; 2.2 points (CABG-PCI difference at 24 months); CI: 95% CI 0.7 to 3.8

Both DES-PCI and CABG resulted in substantial reductions in dyspnea over time with no significant differences beyond 1 month. DES-PCI provided faster initial improvement at 1 month (67.6% vs 58.0% dys

Effect: null

The proportion of angina-free patients was slightly greater with CABG than with DES-PCI at 6 months (83.7% vs 78.1%) and 12 months (83.5% vs 79.5%), with statistically significant differences at 6 and

Effect: improvement; 83.7% vs 78.1% at 6 months; 83.5% vs 79.5% at 12 months

There was a significant interaction between treatment assignment and SYNTAX score. Patients with intermediate SYNTAX scores (23-32) demonstrated significantly greater angina relief with CABG than with

Effect: mixed; Intermediate SYNTAX (23-32): 2.8 points favoring CABG; Low SYNTAX (<=22): -0.1 points; High SYNTAX (>=33): 0.3 points

CABG benefit over DES-PCI in angina relief was greatest among patients with daily or weekly angina at baseline (mean adjusted difference 1.8 points at 1 year), intermediate for monthly angina (1.3 poi

Effect: mixed; Daily/weekly angina: 1.8 points; Monthly angina: 1.3 points; No angina: -0.9 points