Research Paper on:
Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery and Subsequent Depression

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
than a half million coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries done in the United States each year. Depression has been associated with the surgery for years, either as a  condition existing before the surgery or as something that develops afterwards. Even though depression has received greater attention in the past several years  and its association with CABG surgery is strong, there appear to be no specific studies directly linking depression and CABG surgery. A review of several leading medical journals (i.e,  The Lancet and other similar journals) reveals only one relevant study. Of note is the fact that depression associated with heart disease does receive a significant amount of attention.  Analysis of the studies can inform establishment of emerging views. Literature Review The single  study linking depression and CABG surgery mentioned above does not specifically study the relationship between the two. Rather, it studies "the relation between depression and cognitive behavior. (A common  perception among practitioners is that depression may account for cognitive decline, particularly that of memory.)" (James). Cognitive decline following CABG surgery is a phenomenon that has been observed repeatedly  and in many varied settings; the studys authors were seeking to discover whether depression might have an effect on the cognitive decline that so frequently follows CABG surgery.  The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins by McKhann, Borowicz, Goldsborough, Enger and Selnes (1997). The primary finding of the study is that "Depression  after coronary artery bypass grafting does not appear to be linked to cognitive decline and predominantly affects those who were depressed before surgery" (McKhann, et al., 1997; p. 1282).