Adjustment and Recovery after Cardiac Surgery (ARCS) Study
TBC
The ARCS Study was designed to investigate the causes and consequences of poor emotional wellbeing following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and their implications for patient quality of life. It focused on five sets of factors that are potentially relevant to emotions and quality of life following CABG: (1) medical factors e.g. existing heart problems and aspects of the surgery itself, (2) brain processes e.g. ability to understand health information and patients' beliefs about their illness, (3) social factors e.g. support from friends and family, (4) emotional factors e.g. depression and anxiety, (5) biological factors e.g. inflammation in the blood and stress hormones (i.e. cortisol) in saliva.
This study was funded by the British Heart Foundation through the Psychobiology Group's programme grant and PhD studentships awarded to Lydia Poole and Elizabeth Leigh. Data collection for this study ended in 2014 but analyses and publications continue to be produced.
Principal Investigator: Professor Andrew Steptoe
Contact: Dr Lydia Poole (lydia.poole@ucl.ac.uk)
Collaborators: Professor Marjan Jahangiri from St. George's Hospital, London
