Sex Differences in Psychological Distress of Patients With Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD): The MINDSET...

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an increasingly recognized cause of acute coronary syndrome, predominantly affecting women. Psychological distress is common pre- and post-SCAD, yet sex-specific patterns remain understudied. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine sex differences in the psychological distress of patients with SCAD.

Adult patients diagnosed with SCAD within the past 3 years, confirmed by coronary angiography, were recruited from 6 Canadian hospitals between April 2022 and January 2025. Participants completed questionnaires assessing sociodemographics and validated measures of psychological distress: Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 for generalized anxiety, Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire for cardiac-related anxiety, and PTSD Checklist-5 for posttraumatic stress symptoms. Sex differences were analyzed using t tests for continuous variables and χ² tests for categorical variables. Multivariable linear regression models assessed the association between sex and psychological distress, adjusting for age, pre-SCAD mental health diagnosis, and employment status.

Among 326 patients (92.9% women; mean age=53.3±11.1 years), women reported higher rates of preexisting mental health conditions (29.2% versus 8.7%; P=0.035). Post-SCAD women reported higher mean scores than men on the Patient-Health-Questionnaire-9, Cardiac-Anxiety-Questionnaire, and PTSD Checklist-5 (all P<0.05). Female sex was associated with greater depressive (B=2.94; P=0.010), cardiac anxiety (B=7.09; P=0.008), and posttraumatic stress symptoms (B=5.94; P=0.048) after adjustment. Clinically significant symptoms were more common in women versus men: 25.1% versus 0% (depression), 21.5% versus 4.4% (anxiety), 54.8% versus 26.1% (cardiac anxiety), and 15.5% versus 0% (posttraumatic stress).

Both women and men experience clinically significant cardiac anxiety following SCAD, but women report a greater psychological burden, including more preexisting mental health conditions and twice the distress after SCAD. These results underscore the importance of routine psychological screening and timely intervention to support mental health and recovery outcomes, particularly among women.