Abstract
This study sought to compare the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and hostility among 3 clinically diverse elderly cardiac patient cohorts and a reference group of healthy elders. This was a multicenter, comparative study. A total of 1167 individuals participated: 260 healthy elders, and 907 elderly cardiac patients who were at least 3 months past a hospitalization (478 heart-failure patients, 298 postmyocardial infarction patients, and 131 postcoronary artery bypass graft patients). Symptoms of anxiety, depression, and hostility were measured using the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. The prevalence of anxiety, depression, and hostility was higher in patients in each of the cardiac patient groups than in the group of healthy elders. Almost three quarters of patients with heart failure reported experiencing symptoms of depression, and the heart-failure group manifested the greatest percentage of patients with depressive symptoms. The high levels of emotional distress common in cardiac patients are not a function of aging, because healthy elders exhibit low levels of anxiety, depression, and hostility.
Highlights
Title Comparison of prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hostility in elderly patients with heart failure, myocardial infarction, and a coronary artery bypass graft
A total of 1167 individuals participated in this study: 907 cardiac patients, and 260 healthy elders
Hostility levels were higher in postmyocardial infarction and postcoronary artery bypass graft patients than in healthy elders who were similar to heart-failure patients
Summary
This study sought to compare the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and hostility among 3 clinically diverse elderly cardiac patient cohorts and a reference group of healthy elders. Some researchers reported that aging is associated with a reduction in anxiety and depression levels,[1] others documented higher levels of negative emotions in the elderly.[2,3] Higher rates of suicide are seen in the elderly, and the distinctive stresses of aging (eg, loss of friends and loved ones, and retirement) may contribute to substantially higher rates of emotional distress.[4]. This study sought to determine the impact of cardiac disease on psychological adjustment by comparing the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and hostility in 3 elderly cardiac patient groups (ie, outpatients with heart failure, patients after a myocardial infarction, and patients after a coronary artery bypass graft) with that of a group of healthy elders
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