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                              GUIDANT CORPORATION

                                 Exhibit 99.1

              Factors Possibly Affecting Future Operating Results


     From time to time, the Company may publish forward-looking statements
relating to such matters as anticipated financial performance, business
prospects, technological developments, new products, research and development
activities and similar matters. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements. In order to comply
with the terms of the safe harbor, the Company notes that a variety of factors
could cause the Company's actual results and experience to differ materially
from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the Company's
forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the
operations, performance, development and results of the Company's business
include the following:


     1.    Economic factors over which the Company has no control, including
           changes in inflation, interest rates and foreign currency exchange
           rates.

     2.    Delays and uncertainties in the regulatory approval process in the
           United States and other countries, resulting in lost market
           opportunities.

     3.    Unexpected safety, performance or efficacy concerns arising with
           respect to marketed products, whether or not scientifically
           justified, leading to product recalls, withdrawals or declining
           sales.

     4.    Unexpected interruptions of manufacturing operations as a result of
           regulatory enforcement actions by the FDA or other regulatory
           authorities.

     5.    The difficulties and uncertainties inherent in new product
           development, including new products that appear promising during
           development but fail to reach the market as a result of safety,
           performance or efficacy concerns, inability to obtain necessary
           regulatory approvals, unanticipated restrictions imposed on approved
           indications, excessive costs to manufacture, infringement of patents
           or other intellectual property rights of others, or technological
           advances by a competitor of the Company.

     6.    Litigation and other legal factors which could preclude
           commercialization of products or negatively affect the level of sales
           or profitability of existing products, including litigation of
           product liability claims, antitrust litigation, environmental
           matters and patent disputes.

     7.    Future difficulties obtaining necessary components or materials used
           in manufacturing the Company's products.

     8.    Future difficulties obtaining or the inability to obtain appropriate
           levels of product liability insurance.

     9.    Competitive factors including the ability of the Company to obtain
           patent rights or other intellectual property rights sufficient to
           keep competitors from marketing competing products, the introduction
           of new products or therapies by competitors or scientific or medical
           developments that render the Company's products obsolete,
           uneconomical or otherwise noncompetitive or the acquisition of
           patents by competitors that prevent the Company from selling a
           product or including key features in the Company's products.
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     10.   Governmental factors including laws and regulations, policies and
           judicial decisions that affect the regulation and reimbursement of
           medical devices, product liability, health care reform or tax laws.

     11.   Health care industry factors, including increased customer demands
           for price concessions, reductions in third-party (Medicare, Medicaid
           and other governmental programs, private health care insurance and
           managed care plans) reimbursement levels for procedures using the
           Company's products and limits imposed by customers on the number of
           manufacturers or vendors which the customer will purchase products
           from.

     12.   Accounting requirements to write off obsolete inventory or goodwill
           which reduces reported earnings or changes in accounting standards
           applicable to the Company.

     13.   Internal factors such as retention of key employees, change in
           business strategies and the impact of restructuring and business
           combinations.

     14.   The ability of the Company to implement its strategy that includes
           the potential acquisition of one or more businesses and difficulties
           in achieving the integration of the operations of acquired businesses
           in a cost-effective manner and in implementing strategies necessary
           for the realization of anticipated synergies.

     15.   The inability of certain of the Company's, or its Suppliers' or
           Customers', computer systems to handle dates beyond the year 1999.

     16.   The Euro Conversions impact on the competitive environment in which
           the Company operates or its impact on the Company's fundamental risk
           management philosophy.

     17.   Factors beyond the control of the Company, including earthquakes
           (particularly in light of the fact that the Company has significant
           facilities located near major earthquake fault lines), floods, fires
           or explosions.