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ABSTRACT: Health-related quality of life (QoL) is an important and widely used outcome measure in cardiac populations. We examined the relationship between positive affect and health-related quality of life, controlling for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, clinical variables and negative affect. We further investigated the role of gender in this relationship given the well-known gender differences in cardiovascular health. We enrolled 746 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) before they entered outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. All patients completed the Global Mood Scale and the SF-36 Health Survey. Positive affect was independently associated with mental (p < .001) and physical QoL (p < .001) after controlling for control variables. Gender moderated the relationship between positive affect and physical QoL (p = .009) but not mental QoL (p = .60). Positive affect was positively associated with physical QoL in men (p < .001) but not in women (p = .44). The health-related QoL of patients with CHD is associated with a person's level of positive affect.
Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings 05/2012; · 1.49 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Few studies have examined psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) between diagnostic groups of CVD patients. We compared levels of depression, anxiety, hostility, exhaustion, positive affect, and social support, and the prevalence of type D personality between patient groups with a primary diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD), chronic heart failure (CHF), or peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
We examined 548 CHD patients, 105 CHF patients, and 79 PAD patients who completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the cynical hostility subscale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, the short form of the Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire, the type D personality questionnaire, the positive mood scale of the Global Mood Scale, and the Enhancing Recovery in CHD Social Support Inventory, all in the first week of cardiac rehabilitation. Group differences in psychosocial factors were adjusted for sociodemographic factors, previous myocardial infarction, traditional cardiovascular risk factors, and medications.
Relative to patients with PAD, those with CHD and those with CHF both showed greater exhaustion (P ≤ .001) and lower positive affect (P ≤ .03). The effect sizes of these differences were clinically relevant (Cohen's d between 0.32 and 0.49). There were no significant differences in psychosocial risk factors between CHD and CHF patients.
The profile of psychosocial risk factors for CVD revealed clinically relevant variability between different diagnostic groups of CVD patients. The findings imply that patients with distinct cardiac diagnosis might additionally benefit from comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation if the program includes psychosocial risk factor-specific interventions.
Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and prevention 03/2012; 32(4):175-81. · 1.69 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Psychological distress, poor disease-specific quality of life (QoL), and reduction in vagally mediated early heart rate recovery (HRR) after exercise, all previously predicted morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). We hypothesized lower HRR with greater psychological distress and poorer QoL in CHF.
All assessments were made at the beginning of a comprehensive cardiac outpatient rehabilitation intervention program.
Fifty-six CHF patients (mean 58+/-12 years, 84% men) completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire. HRR was determined as the difference between HR at the end of exercise and 1 min after exercise termination (HRR-1).
Elevated levels of anxiety symptoms (P=0.005) as well as decreased levels of the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire total (P = 0.025), physical (P=0.026), and emotional (P=0.017) QoL were independently associated with blunted HRR-1. Anxiety, total, physical, and emotional QoL explained 11.4, 8, 7.8, and 9.0%, respectively, of the variance after controlling for covariates. Depressed mood was not associated with HRR-1 (P=0.20).
Increased psychological distress with regard to elevated anxiety symptoms and impaired QoL were independent correlates of reduced HRR-1 in patients with CHF. Reduced vagal tone might explain part of the adverse clinical outcome previously observed in CHF patients in relation to psychological distress and poor disease-specific QoL.
European journal of cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation: official journal of the European Society of Cardiology, Working Groups on Epidemiology & Prevention and Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology 10/2009; 16(6):645-50. · 2.51 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Vital exhaustion and type D personality previously predicted mortality and cardiac events in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Reduced heart rate recovery (HRR) also predicts morbidity and mortality in CHF. We hypothesized that elevated levels of vital exhaustion and type D personality are both associated with decreased HRR.
Fifty-one patients with CHF (mean age 58+/-12 years, 82% men) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < or = 40% underwent standard exercise testing before receiving outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. They completed the 9-item short form of the Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire and the 14-item type D questionnaire asking about negative affectivity and social inhibition. HRR was calculated as the difference between heart rate at the end of exercise and 1 min after abrupt cessation of exercise (HRR-1). Regression analyses were adjusted for gender, age, LVEF, and maximum exercise capacity.
Vital exhaustion explained 8.4% of the variance in continuous HRR-1 (p=0.045). For each point increase on the vital exhaustion score (range 0-18) there was a mean+/-SEM decrease of 0.54+/-0.26 bpm in HRR-1. Type D personality showed a trend toward statistical significance for being associated with lower levels of HRR-1 explaining 6.5% of the variance (p<0.08). The likelihood of having HRR-1 < or = 18 bpm was significantly higher in patients with type D personality than in those without (odds ratio=7.62, 95% CI 1.50-38.80).
Elevated levels of vital exhaustion and type D personality were both independently associated with reduced HRR-1. The findings provide a hitherto not explored psychobiological explanation for poor cardiac outcome in patients with CHF.
Journal of Cardiology 05/2009; 53(2):248-56. · 1.28 Impact Factor
