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Death anxiety in patients with myocardial infarction or cancer
Ebru Şahan1, Meliha Zengin Eroğlu2, Mehmet Baran Karataş3
1Department of Psychiatry, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Insights
Patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) experience higher death anxiety than cancer patients or healthy individuals. Death anxiety is linked to education, employment, and socioeconomic status, impacting mental and physical health.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Medical Psychology
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Death anxiety is a significant concern for individuals facing serious health conditions.
- Understanding the factors influencing death anxiety is crucial for patient care and mental well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare death anxiety levels among patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), cancer patients, and healthy individuals.
- To investigate the relationship between death anxiety and sociodemographic and clinical variables in these groups.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 180 participants (108 males, 72 females) from cardiology and oncology departments, alongside healthy controls.
- Participants completed sociodemographic forms and standardized anxiety and death anxiety scales: State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-I, STAI-II), Thorson Powell Death Anxiety Scale (TPDAS), and Death Depression Scale (DDS).
Main Results:
- Patients with AMI exhibited the highest mean TPDAS scores (51.60 ± 16.40) compared to cancer patients (37.10 ± 10.23) and healthy individuals (43.40 ± 13.35).
- Significant positive correlations were found between anxiety measures (STAI-I, STAI-II) and death anxiety scales (TPDAS, DDS) in both AMI and cancer groups.
- Higher scores on the Death Depression Scale (DDS) were observed in women and unemployed individuals.
Conclusions:
- Patients with AMI demonstrate elevated levels of death anxiety compared to cancer patients and healthy individuals.
- Death anxiety is associated with educational attainment, employment status, and socioeconomic factors.
- Further research across diverse medical populations is recommended to elucidate the impact of death anxiety on physical and mental health outcomes.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to find out the level of death anxiety among 3 groups: patients with acute myocardial infarction, patients with cancer and healthy individuals in two training and research hospitals; also to evaluate its relationship with several sociodemographic and clinical variables.
Materials And Method:
This study was conducted with one hundred and eighty persons (108 male, 72 female) who have been referred to cardiology or oncology departments and the healthy individuals. Participants completed sociodemographic and clinical data form, State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-I, STAI-II), Thorson Powell Death Anxiety Scale (TPDAS), Death Depression Scale (DDS).
Results:
Participants included in the present study were 40% female with an average age of 53.48 for whole group. The mean TPDAS score for patients with AMI was 51.60 ± 16.40, for patients with cancer 37.10 ± 10.23 and for healthy individuals 43.40 ± 13.35. In AMI group there were positive correlations between STAI-I and TPDAS, DDS scores and also between STAI-II and DDS. In cancer group positive correlations were between STAI-I, II and TPDAS, DDS. TPDAS and DDS were positively correlated in all three groups. Women and participants who were unemployed scored higher on DDS.
Conclusion:
In this study patients with AMI had higher death anxiety than patients with cancer or healthy individuals. Generally death anxiety was related with education, employment and socioeconomic status. Prospective studies carefully searching for different variables in different medical groups would reveal and help us to understand the importance of death anxiety and its impact on courses of physical and mental disorders.
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