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Published on: December 2, 2015

Effects of anxiety and depression on heart disease attributions

Ryan C Day1, Kenneth E Freedland, Robert M Carney

  • 1Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, USA.

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
|March 4, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Cardiac patients experiencing depression or anxiety are more likely to attribute their heart disease to negative emotions. Anxiety, specifically, independently predicts these negative attributions, impacting beliefs about heart disease causes.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Psychosomatic Medicine
  • Behavioral Cardiology

Background:

  • Patient beliefs about illness causation can affect engagement with psychosocial interventions.
  • Understanding these beliefs is crucial for tailoring cardiac care and improving patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of depression and anxiety on cardiac patients' attributions of their heart disease causes.
  • To test the hypothesis that depressed or anxious patients are more prone to attributing heart disease to negative emotions.

Main Methods:

  • Sixty-nine patients with diagnosed ischemic heart disease were recruited from an exercise stress testing laboratory.
  • Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and a heart disease attribution checklist.

Main Results:

  • Univariate analyses showed that depressed and anxious patients were more likely to cite negative emotions as causes of heart disease.
  • Logistic regression identified anxiety as an independent predictor of negative emotion attributions, while depression was not.

Conclusions:

  • Mood state significantly influences how cardiac patients perceive the causes of their heart disease.
  • Anxiety appears to play a more direct role than depression in shaping these attributions.

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