title: Adverse psychological outcome in women with coronary artery disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate gender differences on psychological outcome following cardiac disease, and to identify predictors of psychological distress.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 536 consecutive cardiac patients ≤70 years were identified from medical records to participate in the study: 36 of them proved to have died since the index event. The mean time since the index event was one year and seven months. Of the 500 patients, 357 (71%) agreed to attend an interview on biomedical risk factors and fill in a psychological questionnaire. Complete psychological data were available for 287 (80%) patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women scored significantly higher on anxiety, depression, vital exhaustion and social inhibition, and lower on wellbeing compared with men. Gender, age, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, smoking and admission for a recurrent event since the index event were independent predictors of psychological outcome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results add to current knowledge on gender differences and show that women have an adverse outcome on a range of psychological variables. This has implications for secondary prevention and rehabilitation. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess the implications of adverse psychological outcome in women on prognosis.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boersma
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Deckers
authors.forename: R A M
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Erdman
keywords: coronary artery diseases; gender differences; psychological outcome; secondary prevention