Heart-focused anxiety in the general population.
OBJECTIVE
Heart-focused anxiety is a common phenomenon that is related to psychological disorders and cardiac diseases. We investigated heart-focused anxiety in the general population and provided standard values using the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ). Furthermore, we assessed the reliability of the CAQ and investigated the influence of social variables on heart-focused anxiety.


RESULTS
The questionnaire was applied to 2,396 individuals (age range: 18-92; mean age 49 ± 17, 50% male). Three aspects of heart-focused anxiety (fear, attention, and avoidance) were captured by the CAQ. To test the influence of age, gender, and social factors, we performed analyses of variance, correlative statistics, and regression analyses. Heart-focused anxiety showed a linear increase with age (P < 0.001). No gender differences were observed. The degree of anxiety was affected by relationship (P < 0.001), level of education (P < 0.001), employment (P < 0.001), and income (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
We evaluated heart-focused anxiety in the general population and validated the CAQ. Using percentiles based on a normative sample allows screening for heart-focused anxiety in patients with or without cardiac diseases and the measurement of therapy success after psychotherapeutic or pharmacological intervention.
Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Klinik für Innere Medizin III (Kardiologie, Angiologie und Internistische Intensivmedizin), Kirrberger Straße, 66421, Homburg/Saar, Germany. denise.fischer@uks.eu
Denise
D
Fischer
Ingrid
I
Kindermann
Julia
J
Karbach
Philipp Y
PY
Herzberg
Christian
C
Ukena
Christine
C
Barth
Matthias
M
Lenski
Felix
F
Mahfoud
Franziska
F
Einsle
Stephanie
S
Dannemann
Michael
M
Böhm
Volker
V
Köllner
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult