title: Gender, lifestyles, illness perception and stress in stable atrial fibrillation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study is aimed at investigating if perceived stress in Stable Atrial Fibrillation (AF) has any gender-associated feature and relationships with lifestyle indicators and education level, and which relationship self efficacy, anxiety and depression and illness perception have, if any.
  
  
  METHODS
  88 consecutive patients referred for stable AF are studied by Psychological Stress Measure (PSM) test, Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R), Generalized Self-Efficacy scale (GSE) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Mediterranean diet, physical activity increase and smoking withdrawal counseling were provided.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AF patients have higher PSM associated with gender (women), older age, anxiety and depression. Higher GSE, greater Adherence to Mediterranean Diet profile and coffee habits (greater coffee users) are associated with a reduced hazard of perceived stress. By multiple linear regression, PSM is explained by Anxiety and IPQr (statistically significant are emotional representation and illness coherence subscales), which account for 92.2% of the variance (p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results outline that psychological stress is greater in women in comparison with men. Illness perceptions are important in the context of perceived stress in AF. This effect appears to be modulated by greater self-efficacy and by Adherence to Mediterranean Diet profile, that when higher, are associated with a reduced hazard of perceived stress. We suggest that therapeutic interventions on illness perceptions can be warranted in order to achieve a lower psychological distress in AF patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Internal Medicine and Medical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Catania, Italy. guglielmotrovato@unict.it
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Trovato
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pace
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cangemi
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Martines
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Trovato
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Catalano
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*