Is social isolation/alienation confounded with, and non-independent of, emotional distress in its association with early onset of coronary artery disease?

Both emotional distress (ED) and social isolation/alienation (SI/A) have been found to prospectively predict adverse cardiac events, but few studies have tested the confounding/redundancy of these measures as correlates/predictors of outcomes. In this study, 163 patients with documented coronary artery disease (CAD) were interviewed for multiple indices of SI/A and administered the Symptom Checklist 90 - Revised (SCL90R). A spouse or friend provided an independent rating of ED using the spouse/friend version of the Ketterer Stress Symptom Frequency Checklist (KSSFC).

Healthcare utilization and emotional distress in coronary artery disease patients.

Background: No studies to-date have examined the various types of emotional distress (ED) for their relative power at predicting costs in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Objective: The authors investigated the association between expenditure for CAD patients and various measures of emotional/psychological functioning.

Method: The authors assessed dollars spent in relation to dimensions of the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised and traditional risk factors in the year preceding referral of 164 CAD patients for stress management.

Cardiovascular symptoms in coronary-artery disease patients are strongly correlated with emotional distress.

Background: The relationship of cardiovascular events and cardiovascular symptoms is unclear, and physical symptoms, including most cardiovascular symptoms, are known to be influenced by emotional distress.

Objective: Authors examined the relative strength of association of multiple measures of emotional distress and accepted cardiac risk factors with five common cardiac symptoms (chest pain, fatigue, palpitations, presyncope, and dyspnea).

Method: The authors tested the association of multiple cardiovascular symptoms with various measures of emotional distress (i.

Screening, diagnosis & monitoring of depression/distress in CHF patients.

Objective and validated measures of depression/distress (anxiety and anger) are available and readily usable at the bedside or in clinic. Foremost among these is the Patient's Health Questionnaire--an adaptation of DSM IV criteria for Major Depressive Disorder that permits administration and scoring by nursing or physician personnel, and quantification of the intensity of depression. A score of 10 or greater indicates a need for evaluation/treatment.

Empirically derived psychometric screening for emotional distress in coronary artery disease patients: efficiency, efficacy, and source.

Background And Research Objectives: Multiple types of evidence implicate emotional distress as a cause of adverse outcomes in individuals with coronary artery disease. The present study was intended to determine the most accurate and user-friendly means of screening patients with coronary artery disease for emotional distress using age at initial diagnosis as the criterion.

Subjects And Methods: Two clinical databases consisting of patients with documented coronary artery disease, each contained multiple measures of emotional distress, were used.