Effects of age and gender on the relationship between anxiety and coronary artery disease

This study investigated the relationship between anxiety and coronary artery disease (CAD). State (S-ANX) and trait (T-ANX) anxiety were assessed with the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI), which was administered to 373 patients (230 males, 143 females) 12 to 18 hr prior to their undergoing coronary arteriography. Females were significantly higher than males in both T-ANX (p less than 0.05) and S-ANX (p less than 0.01). Younger patients of both sexes were significantly higher in S-ANX (p less than 0.001), but no relationship was found between T-ANX and age. Patients with CAD did not differ in S-ANX from those without CAD. T-ANX scores of female patients were unrelated to MI or CAD. Male patients with chest pain only (CPO) were higher in T-ANX than males with prior myocardial infarction or chest pain plus CAD (p less than 0.01). Although this difference was not significant for older males (p less than 0.31), younger CPO males were significantly higher in T-ANX than the other clinical groups (p less than 0.05). These results were interpreted as indicating that high T-ANX is not associated with CAD, but is a risk factor for angiography, especially for younger males.