Methods: Between June 2012 and October 2014, a total of 170 patients (116 males, 54 females; mean age 57.0±10.0 years; range 30 to 79 years) who underwent CABG surgery in our clinic were divided into two risk groups on the basis of their risk scores (low-risk ≤1 point or high-risk ≥2 point). A physiotherapy protocol consisted of four phases was performed from baseline until discharge. The incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications was scored by a blinded investigator on an ordinal scale of 1 to 4. Functional capacity was evaluated using a six-minute walk test (6MWT). Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for anxiety and depression and Short Form-36 for quality of life were applied.

Results: The incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications, length of stay in the hospital and ICU and duration of intubation were not statistically significant in high-risk group, compared to the low-risk group (p>0.05). There was a significant decrease in 6MWA distance from baseline to discharge for all patients; however, the decline was lower in high-risk group. There was no statistically significant differences in the quality of life and depression scores between the groups after treatment (p>0.05). We observed statistically significant differences in anxiety scores between the groups after treatment (p<0.05).

Conclusion: This randomized, controlled trial demonstrated that physiotherapy might help patients in high-risk group for faster recovery after CABG. Physiotherapy is more critical in high-risk patients to obtain similar results as in low-risk group.