Studies on coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries have consistently shown a higher early mortality rate of women over men. Adjustment for clinical risk factors diminished this gender gap, but did not fully explain it. The present thesis examined the additional role of psy-chosocial variables in the recovery process after CABG with respect to 1-year mortality and phy-sical functioning. The investigation was based on a sample of 579 consecutive patients (22% women) undergo-ing CABG at the

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... eutsches Herzzentrum Berlin between January 2005 and October 2005. Psy-chosocial factors were determined by means of validated questionnaires, clinical data were abstracted from structured medical records and case report forms. Both psychosocial and medical data were collected 1 day before, 2 months after, and 1 year after surgery. Women in this sample were older than men, had a lower education level, were more likely to live alone, and had a less favourable risk profile than men. In particular, they had higher depres-sion and anxiety levels. The 1-year mortality rate of women exceeded that of men markedly. Ac-cordingly, women evaluated their preoperative physical functioning worse than men. As the main result, depression appeared as an independent risk factor for both mortality and physical functioning, whereas gender, after adjustment for psychosocial and clinical risk factors, no longer contributed independently. Over time, men and women differed in their baseline health status, but experienced similar degrees of improvement. Household chores seemed to influence this overall process only marginally. To assess the direction of influence, a cross-lagged path analytic model was built, which demonstrated predictive priority of depression over physical functioning at later time points and not vice versa. Further research should focus on possible interventions and elucidate their effectiveness for groups of different social backgrounds, age and gender.