Cardiovascular symptoms in coronary-artery disease patients are strongly correlated with emotional distress.
BACKGROUND
The relationship of cardiovascular events and cardiovascular symptoms is unclear, and physical symptoms, including most cardiovascular symptoms, are known to be influenced by emotional distress.


OBJECTIVE
Authors examined the relative strength of association of multiple measures of emotional distress and accepted cardiac risk factors with five common cardiac symptoms (chest pain, fatigue, palpitations, presyncope, and dyspnea).


METHODS
The authors tested the association of multiple cardiovascular symptoms with various measures of emotional distress (i.e., the scales of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised) and the putative risk factors for disease status in 109 patients with documented coronary artery disease.


RESULTS
Measures of emotional distress were stronger correlates of patient-rated distress due to the symptoms than were traditional risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment of emotional distress may be a viable strategy for symptom-control in cardiovascular disease.
Ketterer
Mark W
MW
Department of Behavioral Health and the Heart and Vascular Institute, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit MI 48202 USA. MarkWKetterer@cs.com
Knysz
W
W
Keteyian
S J
SJ
Schairer
J
J
Jafri
S
S
Alam
M
M
Farha
A J
AJ
Deveshwar
S
S
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013575:Syncope / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology