Psychosocial and Physiological Predictors of Mortality in Patients of Heart Failure: Independent Effects of Marital Status and C-Reactive Protein.

Purpose: Few studies have examined the interplay between psychosocial and physiological variables in prediction of mortality in heart failure (HF) patients. This study investigated the prospective influence of marital status, social support, depression, and C-reactive protein (CRP) on the mortality of patients with chronic HF. In addition, it examined whether there was a mediating relationship between social support and marital status and whether depression and inflammation influenced one another to predict mortality of HF patients.

Intolerance of uncertainty, cognitive complaints, and cancer-related distress in prostate cancer survivors.

Objective: Prostate cancer survivors have reported cognitive complaints following treatment, and these difficulties may be associated with survivors' ongoing cancer-related distress. Intolerance of uncertainty may exacerbate this hypothesized relationship by predisposing individuals to approach uncertain situations such as cancer survivorship in an inflexible and negative manner. We investigated whether greater cognitive complaints and higher intolerance of uncertainty would interact in their relation to more cancer-related distress symptoms.

Characterizing biased cancer-related cognitive processing: relationships with BRCA1/2 genetic mutation status, personal cancer history, age, and prophylactic surgery.

Objective: This study evaluated associations of cancer-related cognitive processing with BRCA1/2 mutation carrier status, personal cancer history, age, and election of prophylactic surgery in women at high risk for breast cancer.

Method: In a 2 (BRCA1/2 mutation carrier status) × 2 (personal cancer history) matched-control design, with age as an additional predictor, participants (N = 115) completed a computerized cancer Stroop task. Dependent variables were response latency to cancer-related stimuli (reaction time [RT]) and cancer-related cognitive interference (cancer RT minus neutral RT).

Avoidant coping moderates the association between anxiety and patient-rated physical functioning in heart failure patients.

Previous research has indicated that anxiety may be associated with adverse health outcomes in heart failure patients. Little research, however, has explored whether anxiety interacts with patients' coping strategies in their associations with physical functioning. The present study examined whether coping strategies moderated the association between anxiety and self-rated physical functioning in 273 heart failure patients.

Depression and anxiety predict decline in physical health functioning in patients with heart failure.

Background: Few studies have examined the prospective influences of depression and anxiety on physical health functioning in heart failure (HF) patients. Prior studies were also limited by employing psychological measures containing somatic items confounded with HF symptoms.

Purpose: This study examined whether depression, anxiety, social support, and their changes predicted the decline of physical functioning in HF patients over 6 months.