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.

Usefulness of Type D personality and kidney dysfunction as predictors of interpatient variability in inflammatory activation in chronic heart failure.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), soluble TNF-alpha receptors 1 and 2 (sTNFR1/2), and interleukin (IL)-6 are powerful predictors of mortality in chronic heart failure (CHF). Little is known, however, about the origins of proinflammatory cytokine production or the determinants of substantial interpatient variability in inflammatory activation. We prospectively examined kidney dysfunction and Type D personality (tendency to experience and inhibit emotional distress) as predictors of interpatient variability in these markers of inflammatory activation.

Failure to consult for symptoms of heart failure in patients with a type-D personality.

Background: Self-management and adequate consultation behaviour are essential for the successful treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF). Patients with a type-D personality, characterised by high social inhibition and negative affectivity, may delay medical consultation despite increased symptom levels and may be at an increased risk for adverse clinical outcomes.

Aim: To examine whether type-D personality predicts poor self-management and failure to consult for evident cardiac symptoms in patients with CHF.

The distressed (type D) personality is independently associated with impaired health status and increased depressive symptoms in chronic heart failure.

Background: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a serious condition that is associated with impaired health status and a high prevalence of depressive symptoms. To date, little is known about the determinants of health status and depressive symptoms in CHF. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess whether Type D personality is associated with impaired health status and increased depressive symptoms in heart failure patients, independent of disease characteristics.