Symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients with stable coronary heart disease: prognostic value and consideration of pathogenetic links.
BACKGROUND
We evaluated the association of symptoms of anxiety and depression with fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease events among patients with coronary heart disease and considered several potential underlying pathogenetic links.


METHODS
This was a prospective cohort study.


METHODS
In this study, including coronary heart disease patients undergoing an in-patient rehabilitation program, symptoms of anxiety and depression were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease events were determined during a 3-year follow-up.


RESULTS
Of the 1052 patients with CHD 16.1% showed a borderline and 8.3% a manifest anxiety symptoms score, whereas 11.8 and 5.9% showed a borderline and manifest depressive symptoms score, respectively. During the 3-year follow-up fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease events were observed in 73 (6.9%) patients. After adjustment for covariates, patients having manifest anxiety symptoms had a statistically significant hazard ratio (HR) of 2.32 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14-4.74] for a cardiovascular disease event, and patients with depressive symptoms had an HR of 1.47 (95% CI 0.62-3.51) compared to other patients. In a model considering anxiety and depressive symptom scores simultaneously, the hazard ratio for a cardiovascular disease event associated with anxiety symptoms increased to 3.31 (95% CI 1.32-8.27), whereas the hazard ratio associated with depressive symptoms decreased (HR 0.62; 95% CI 0.20-1.87). We found a positive association of increased anxiety scores with body mass index and systolic blood pressure.


CONCLUSIONS
The study suggests an important role especially for symptoms of anxiety for long-term prognosis of patients with known coronary heart disease. It furthermore suggests that several pathogenetic links may partly explain the increased risk.
Rothenbacher
Dietrich
D
Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, The German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany. d.rothenbacher@dkfz-heidelberg.de
Hahmann
Harry
H
Wüsten
Bernd
B
Koenig
Wolfgang
W
Brenner
Hermann
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors