Unmet supportive care needs, anxiety and depression in haematology patients during watch-and-wait.

Objective: There is growing evidence and awareness of the psychological impact of watch-and-wait in patients with indolent haematological malignancy. However, the need for supportive care is unknown. The aims of this study were to investigate prevalence of unmet needs, their psychological associates, and prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptomatology.

Positive affect, anhedonia, and compliance with self-care in patients with chronic heart failure.

Objective: Optimal self-care is crucial in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). While the focus of research has been on negative mood states, adequate psychological resources may be required to successfully engage in HF self-care. Therefore, the longitudinal associations of multiple positive affect measures in explaining HF self-care including consulting behavior were examined while adjusting for depressive symptoms and potential covariates (e.

Azithromycin maintenance treatment in patients with frequent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COLUMBUS): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Macrolide resistance is an increasing problem; there is therefore debate about when to implement maintenance treatment with macrolides in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aimed to investigate whether patients with COPD who had received treatment for three or more exacerbations in the previous year would have a decrease in exacerbation rate when maintenance treatment with azithromycin was added to standard care.

Methods: We did a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-centre trial in The Netherlands between May 19, 2010, and June 18, 2013.

Depressive symptoms in outpatients with heart failure: importance of inflammatory biomarkers, disease severity and personality.

Objective: Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in heart failure (HF) patients, however the underlying etiology of depression in HF patients remains yet unclear. Hence, the goal is to examine the relative importance of inflammation, disease severity and personality as predictors of depression in HF patients.

Design: Depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, depression subscale) were assessed at baseline and one-year follow-up in 268 HF patients (75.

The relationship between Type D personality, affective symptoms and hemoglobin levels in chronic heart failure.

Background: Anemia is associated with poor prognosis in heart failure (HF) patients. Contributors to the risk of anemia in HF include hemodilution, renal dysfunction and inflammation. Hemoglobin levels may also be negatively affected by alterations in stress regulatory systems.

Positive affect dimensions and their association with inflammatory biomarkers in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: In cardiac patients positive affect has found to be associated with improved clinical outcomes, with reduced inflammation being one of the potential mechanisms responsible.

Methods: Positive affect was assessed using The Global Mood Scale (GMS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in patient with chronic heart failure (N=210; 67 ± 9 years, 79% men). Markers of inflammation (TNFα, sTNFr1, sTNFr2, IL-6 and CRP) were measured and averaged at three consecutive time points.

Poor health status and distress in cardiac patients: the role of device therapy vs. underlying heart disease.

Aims: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy, which includes the risk of shocks, is considered the primary culprit of reductions in patient reported outcomes (PROs; e.g. health status and distress), thereby negating the role of underlying disease severity.

What is the use? Application of the short form (SF) questionnaires for the evaluation of treatment effects.

Background: Health status has evolved as a clinical outcome measure that is of great interest in medical care. However, there is still debate about the appropriateness of scoring algorithms for the often used short form questionnaires. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate the consequences of the traditional scoring procedure based on orthogonal factor rotation for clinical applications by (a) re-evaluating the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of antidepressants in improving health status in cardiac patients and (b) comparing empirical evidence on depression and health status using orthogonal and oblique factor rotation (alternative scoring method) in a community sample and a heart failure (HF) sample.

Influence of macrolide maintenance therapy and bacterial colonisation on exacerbation frequency and progression of COPD (COLUMBUS): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by progressive development of airflow limitation that is poorly reversible. Because of a poor understanding of COPD pathogenesis, treatment is mostly symptomatic and new therapeutic strategies are limited. There is a direct relationship between the severity of the disease and the intensity of the inflammatory response.

Reduced positive affect (anhedonia) is independently associated with 7-year mortality in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention: results from the RESEARCH registry.

Aims: Negative mood states (e.g., anxiety and depression) have been associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in coronary artery disease (CAD), but little is known about the impact of positive emotions on these health outcomes.

Red cell distribution width as a marker of impaired exercise tolerance in patients with chronic heart failure.

Aims: Exercise intolerance predicts mortality in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Recently, increased red cell distribution width (RDW) has emerged as an additional powerful predictor of poor outcome. We investigated the relationship between RDW and exercise capacity in patients with CHF.

Type D personality and course of health status over 18 months in outpatients with heart failure: multiple mediating inflammatory biomarkers.

Background: The distressed (Type D) personality is associated with poor health status (HS) and increased inflammatory activation in heart failure (HF). We tested whether multiple inflammatory biomarkers mediated the association between Type D personality and the course of self-reported HS over 18 months.

Methods: HF outpatients (n=228, 80% male, mean age 67.

Symptoms of anxiety and cardiac hospitalizations at 12 months in patients with heart failure.

Objective: Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of hospitalization. Clinical and socio-demographic factors have been associated with cardiac admissions, but little is known about the role of anxiety. We examined whether symptoms of anxiety were associated with cardiac hospitalizations at 12 months in HF patients.

Intra-individual changes in anxiety and depression during 12-month follow-up in percutaneous coronary intervention patients.

Background: Only a paucity of studies focused on intra-individual changes in anxiety and depression over time and its correlates in cardiac patients, which may contribute to the identification of high-risk patients and point to targets for intervention. We examined changes in anxiety and depression over a 12-month period and the demographic and clinical correlates of change scores using an intra-individual approach in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: Consecutive PCI patients (N=715) completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at baseline and at 12 months post-PCI.

Anhedonia is associated with poor health status and more somatic and cognitive symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease.

Purpose: The effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) is moderated by negative emotions and clinical factors, but no studies evaluated the role of positive emotions. This study examined whether anhedonia (i.e.

Psychological distress and mortality in systolic heart failure.

Background: Depression, anxiety, and type D ("distressed") personality (tendency to experience negative emotions paired with social inhibition) have been associated with poor prognosis in coronary heart disease, but little is known about their role in chronic heart failure. Therefore, we investigated whether these indicators of psychological distress are associated with mortality in chronic heart failure.

Method And Results: Consecutive outpatients with chronic heart failure (n=641; 74.

Impact of peripheral arterial disease on health status: a comparison with chronic heart failure.

Objective: To further document the experienced burden in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), we compared the health status of patients with PAD and chronic heart failure (CHF). As a secondary aim, we studied clinical and socio-demographic correlates of health status in both conditions.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study in four outpatient clinics in the Southern part of The Netherlands, with subjects consisting of ambulatory (346 PAD and 188 CHF) patients.

Somatic versus cognitive symptoms of depression as predictors of all-cause mortality and health status in chronic heart failure.

Objective: Depression is a predictor of adverse health outcomes in chronic heart failure (CHF), but it is not known whether specific symptoms drive this relationship. We examined the impact of somatic/affective, cognitive/affective, and total depressive symptoms on all-cause mortality and health status in CHF.

Method: Consecutive CHF outpatients (n = 366) completed the Beck Depression Inventory.

The relationship between type D personality and chronic heart failure is not confounded by disease severity as assessed by BNP.

Psychological factors, like Type D personality (i.e., the tendency to experience negative emotions and to inhibit emotional distress) have been linked to impaired health outcomes.

Beyond Type D personality: reduced positive affect (anhedonia) predicts impaired health status in chronic heart failure.

Objective: Type D personality has been associated with impaired health status in chronic heart failure (CHF), but other psychological factors may also be important.

Aim: To determine whether non-Type D patients with low positive affect and Type D patients report lower health status, compared with non-Type D patients with high positive affect at 12-month follow-up in chronic heart failure.

Methods: Consecutive CHF outpatients (n = 276) filled out the Short Form-12 (health status) and Health Complaints Scale (disease-specific complaints) at inclusion and 12-month follow-up, and the DS14 (Type D personality) and positive affect (Global Mood Scale) at inclusion.

Normative data of the SF-12 health survey with validation using postmyocardial infarction patients in the Dutch population.

Objective: To gain Dutch population norms for the Short Form-12 (SF-12), a generic health status questionnaire, in a random sample of the general population and to validate these in postmyocardial infarction (MI) patients.

Methods: 2,301 respondents from the general population and 459 post-MI patients completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36), which was used to calculate SF-12 scores.

Results: The SF-12 summary scores correlated highly with SF-36 summary scores, demonstrating that these scores explain the same amount of variance in health status.

Inadequate consultation behavior modulates the relationship between type D personality and impaired health status in chronic heart failure.

Background: Psychological risk factors for impaired health outcomes have been acknowledged in chronic heart failure (CHF), with Type D personality being such a risk factor. Inadequate consultation behavior, a specific aspect of self-management, might be one mechanism in explaining the adverse effect of Type D on health outcomes. In this study we examined the relationship between Type D personality, impaired disease-specific health status, and inadequate consultation behavior.

Type D patients report poorer health status prior to and after cardiac rehabilitation compared to non-type D patients.

Background: Type D personality is an emerging risk factor in coronary artery disease (CAD). Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves outcomes, but little is known about the effects of CR on Type D patients.

Purpose: We examined (1) variability in Type D caseness following CR, (2) Type D as a determinant of health status, and (3) the clinical relevance of Type D as a determinant of health status compared to cardiac history.