title: [Psychological symptoms and body image in patients after surgery of congenital heart disease].
abstract: In the last 20 years the survival rate of patients with congenital heart disease has increased considerably, thus psychological consequences of living with a heart defect have attracted considerable scientific attention. In our study psychological symptoms and the body image of patients with congenital heart disease were compared with the respective scores of general population samples (age: 14 - 45 years). Psychological symptoms were measured by means of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; subscales: somatization, obsessive-compulsive thoughts, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism). Body image was assessed with the FKB-20 body image questionnaire (subscales: rejection of the body, vitality). The patient group consisted of 361 women and men with congenital heart disease. For comparisons with the BSI, a sample of 1165 subjects was available. Comparisons with the FKB-20 were performed with data from a separate survey (N = 1169). After stratification for age and gender, in females only a few differences were found for both instruments. In males higher scores were obtained for "rejection of the body", and lower ones for "vitality". This does not apply to the highest age group (36 - 45 years). For all BSI-subscales except "depression", "phobic anxiety", and "psychoticism" marked differences between patients and controls were found in males and over all age groups. In women group differences emerged on some subscales (obsessive-compulsive thoughts, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, and phobic anxiety), but this does not hold for all age groups. These results do not apply to patients with the severest impairments due to congenital heart disease, because their number in our study was too low.
authors.affiliation: Medizinische Soziologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover. geyer.siegfried@mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.forename: Aike
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hessel
authors.forename: Almut
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kempa
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoege
authors.forename: Kambiz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Norozi
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wessel
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Albani
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D012803:Sick Role