Comparison of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Between Mild and Severe Non-cardiac Chest Pain

Abstract

Background: Physical and psychological factors affect one another in patients presenting with non-cardiac chest pain. Studying the psychological components of these patients may improve their treatment process. Objectives: To compare depression, anxiety, and stress severity between mild and severe chest pain in patients with non-cardiac chest pain. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. The statistical population comprised patients with non-cardiac chest pain admitted to the Heart Emergency Center in Kermanshah, Iran. Using a matching method, 94 participants with mild and severe non-cardiac chest pain were selected and studied in two groups of 47. The instruments used in this study include the Comorbidity Index, the brief pain index (BPI), and the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS). The multivariate analysis of variance, chi-squared test, and t-test were used for data analysis. Results: After adjusting for the effects of age and comorbid conditions, results showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of depression, anxiety, and stress; the severity of these variables was exacerbated in patients with severe chest pain (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Depression, anxiety, and stress are common psychological components in patients with non-cardiac chest pain especially those with severe chest pain and it is essential that health professionals pay attention to these factors. Therefore, paying attention to psychological factors could help experts to choose solutions that will decrease pain and side effects of the diseases. It may also facilitate treatment procedures among patients in severe pain. Further investigation to determine the association between these variables and non-cardiac chest pain should be considered.