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Published on: May 19, 2015
Adverse psychological outcome in women with coronary artery disease
Insights
Women experience worse psychological outcomes after cardiac disease, including higher anxiety and depression. Predictors of psychological distress include gender, age, and recurrent cardiac events, highlighting needs for targeted secondary prevention.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Psychology
- Health Outcomes Research
Background:
- Psychological distress is common after cardiac events.
- Understanding gender differences in psychological outcomes is crucial for effective patient care.
- Predictors of psychological distress require identification for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate gender disparities in psychological outcomes following cardiac disease.
- To identify key predictors of psychological distress in cardiac patients.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 536 cardiac patients (≤70 years) was identified.
- Interviews and psychological questionnaires were administered to 357 patients one year and seven months post-event.
- Complete psychological data were obtained from 287 patients.
Main Results:
- Women reported significantly higher anxiety, depression, vital exhaustion, and social inhibition compared to men.
- Women also reported lower wellbeing than men.
- Independent predictors of psychological outcome included gender, age, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, smoking, and recurrent cardiac events.
Conclusions:
- Women experience adverse psychological outcomes post-cardiac disease across multiple variables.
- These findings have significant implications for secondary prevention and cardiac rehabilitation strategies.
- Further longitudinal research is necessary to understand the prognostic impact of adverse psychological outcomes in women.
Objectives:
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.
Conclusion:
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.
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