Relationship of psychologic factors to frequent symptomatic ventricular arrhythmia

Abstract

Since there is very little available systematic Information on the psychological profile of patients with cardiac arrhythmia, a battery of 12 standardized personality inventories was administered to 102 patients ranging in age from 19 to 69 years. Thirty-eight patients with frequent ventricular premature beats (more than 30 per hour) without myocardial infarction were significantly more psychologically symptomatic than 34 age- and sex-matched general medical/surgical patients. The variables found to be significant portray the patient with frequent ventricular premature beats without myocardial Infarction: (1) high scores for hysteria, (2) less moral orientation, (3) more anxiety, (4) depression and social alienation, and (5) an inhibited and low respectful style. This combination of psychological variables produced a discriminant function (p <0.001) that accounted for 53 percent of the variance between the arrhythmia/no myocardial Infarction group and the medical/surgical control group and could correctly predict group membership In 83.3 percent of cases. These results may have further implications in nonpharmacologic and psychotropic adjuncts to antlarrhythmic therapy.