title: Heart-related anxieties in relation to general anxiety and severity of illness in cardiology patients.
abstract: Absence of an adequate reason for anxiety is a criterion for pathological anxiety. However, the presence of danger or fear-provoking stimuli may even be a risk factor for anxiety and does not exclude that there is additionally pathological anxiety too. The question is, to what degree can heart-related anxiety be explained by the severity of illness or trait anxiety? Two hundred and nine patients (37.8% women) from a cardiology inpatient unit completed the Heart-Anxiety-Questionnaire, Progression-Anxiety-Questionnaire, Job-Anxiety-Scale and the State-Trait-Anxiety-Inventory. The severity of cardiac illness was rated by the treating cardiologists using the Multidimensional Severity of Morbidity Rating. Time absent from work due to sickness was assessed as an indicator for illness-related impairment. Heart anxiety was significantly related to progression anxiety and, to a lesser extent, trait anxiety and indicators of subjective symptoms of somatic illness. No association was found with medical ratings for prognosis, multimorbidity, or reduction in life expectancy. Heart-related anxiety is a symptom of an anxiety disorder. Although partially dependent on subjective suffering, it cannot be explained by the severity of medical illness. Treatment of health-related anxieties should focus on how to cope with subjective symptoms of illness.
authors.affiliation: a Research Group Psychosomatic Rehabilitation , Charité University Medicine , Berlin , Germany .
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muschalla
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glatz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011611:Psychosomatic Medicine; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult