title: A five-country comparison of anxiety early after acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety is common after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and has the potential to negatively affect physical and psychosocial recovery. There have been no cross-cultural comparisons of anxiety among AMI patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether anxiety after AMI differs across five diverse countries and to determine whether an interaction between country, and sociodemographic and clinical variables contributes to variations in reporting anxiety.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 912 individuals with confirmed AMI were enrolled in this prospective, comparative, cross-cultural study. Anxiety was assessed within 72 h of hospital admission using the Brief Symptom Inventory. The mean level of anxiety in the entire sample was 0.62+/-0.76, which is 44% higher than the normal mean level. Anxiety levels were not significantly different among the countries with the exception that patients in England reported lower levels of anxiety than those in the US (P=0.03). However, this difference disappeared after controlling for sociodemographic variables on which the countries differed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients from each country studied experienced high anxiety after AMI. Even though various cultures were represented in this study, culture itself did not account for variations in anxiety after AMI. It appears that anxiety after AMI is a universal phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: University of Kentucky, College of Nursing /US Air Force, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Marla J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: De Jong
authors.forename: Misook L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Lynn P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Roser
authors.forename: Lynne A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Lynn A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kelso
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dracup
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McKinley
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamasaki
authors.forename: Cho-Ja
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Riegel
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.forename: Lynn V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Doering
authors.forename: Kyungeh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Maree
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: Debra K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Moser
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000379:methods; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology