[Age-dependent adjustment to disease in patients with cardiovascular diseases]

During their rehabilitation treatment 61 inpatients with different cardiovascular diseases or disorders were investigated with structured interviews, questionnaires about anamnesis and psychological tests in order to determine the individual coping strategies. The mean results show that three of four pts with functional heart and circulatory disorders don't know anything or something wrong about the pathology of their symptoms. Pts with coronary heart disease without myocardial infarction don't have any or any right information in 45%, but coronary infarction-pts don't have any right pathogenetic knowledge in only 12% (differences: p less than .05). The pathogenetic knowledge is not statistically correlated with the age of the pts. In total 54% can't give any reasons for the incidence, 18% are accusing their own health behaviour, 15% say that it is fate and 13% are believing that primarily environmental factors are the best conception about the etiology of their disease. The subjective illness-related psycho-physical irritation show a moderate to average strength and does not depend on pts' age. The main actual cognitive and emotional reaction to illness is in 40% denial, 30% are trying to adept actively to the given situation, 22% show acute mourning and anxiety and 8% respond with rebellion, aggressiveness or anger (differences: p less than .01). There is a tendency growing with increasing life-age to accept the event of illness as a chance for an active change to a better style of life in future. Pts with cardiovascular diseases design an overall optimistic development for their own future: they expect an age of 66.2 years, male pts believe to grow older than female (p less than .01). The prospected satisfaction with life doesn't show any significant differences depending on diagnosis or age. All in all the results lead to the conclusion that the factor "age of life" does not play a dominant role in the process of managing with cardiovascular diseases compared with psychological factors of coping with the illness.