A Perceived Risk Factor May Lead to Increased Anxiety and Depression in Cardiovascular Patients

Abstract

Background: The way that patients perceive their cardiac condition and their attitude toward its causes are effective in education and in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Objectives: The current study was conducted to compare anxiety and depression among cardiovascular patients with and without a perceived risk factor toward CVD. Methods: The administrative data of this retrospective cross-sectional study were obtained from the database of the cardiac rehabilitation (CR) ward of a hospital in Iran. The data of 745 patients were obtained from January 2005 to 2011 using the compiled forms of this database, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis I Disorders. Multivariate analysis of variance was used for data analysis. Results: After adjusting for gender and age and at the beginning of the CR program, anxiety (P = 0.006) and depression scores (P = 0.016) were significantly higher among those with a perceived risk factor (N = 602) than among those without such perceived risk factor (N = 143). Although males with a perceived risk factor experienced higher anxiety (P = 0.01) and depression (P = 0.02) than males without such perceived risk factor, the difference was not detected in females. Conclusions: As perceived risk factors may not always translate to a real risk factor, patients with a perceived risk factor toward CVD may experience anxiety and depression. The results found in females are discussable.