| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
From the Department of Psychology (T.R., W.L.), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia; Canada; the Division of Cardiology (R.F.D.), Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and cooperating institutions of the Canadian Amlodipine/Atenolol Silent Ischemia Study.
Address reprint requests to: Thomas Rutledge, PhD, Behavioral Medicine Research Group, University of Pittsburgh, Bellefield Professional Bldg., 130 N. Bellefield Ave., Suite 520, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Email: dr.tom{at}musclemail.com
BACKGROUND: Numerous research findings support the proposed connection between such psychological characteristics as stress and hostility and the manifestation of disease. However, less evidence is available concerning the role(s) psychological factors might play in the process of disease recovery.
METHODS: Eighty patients with known coronary disease and exercise-induced ischemia underwent treadmill exercise testing and 48-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring and completed a battery of standardized psychological tests assessing hostility, depression, and daily stress on four occasions during a 12-week pharmacological treatment study. After withdrawal of antiischemic drugs at baseline, patients returned for subsequent tests at 3-week intervals. During the second and third intervals, patients were prescribed one of two antiischemic medications, atenolol or amlodipine, or given a placebo. All patients were then placed on a combination treatment protocol for the 3 weeks before the final testing date.
RESULTS: The combination treatment produced highly significant benefits across all measured cardiac variables (20.3% improvement in exercise performance, 13% reduction in reported angina, 64.0% reduction in the frequency of ischemic episodes; for all, p < .01). However, results showed that high baseline levels of daily stress were associated with reliably smaller treatment effects on measures of ischemia frequency and treadmill exercise time and with a significantly greater likelihood of reporting angina after treatment (r = -0.24, -0.25, and -0.33, respectively; p <.05). In addition, high baseline hostility predicted significantly smaller diastolic blood pressure improvements (r = -0.29, p < .05).
CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that psychological risk factors may have globally negative effects on the course of treatment and suggest particular factors that may warrant attention in trials targeting cardiac symptom reduction.
Key Words: myocardialischemia • ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring • exercisetreadmill testing • stress
Abbreviations: CASIS = Canadian Amlodipine/Atenolol in Silent Ischemia Study.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  C. D. Sofhauser Psychosocial Antecedents of Hostility in Persons with Coronary Heart Disease J Holist Nurs, September 1, 2003; 21(3): 280 - 300. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. A. Chaput, S. H. Adams, J. A. Simon, R. S. Blumenthal, E. Vittinghoff, F. Lin, E. Loh, and K. A. Matthews Hostility Predicts Recurrent Events among Postmenopausal Women with Coronary Heart Disease Am. J. Epidemiol., December 15, 2002; 156(12): 1092 - 1099. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. A. Zvara Treatment of Perioperative Myocardial Ischemia Seminars in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, July 1, 2001; 5(2): 166 - 183. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Springer, A. Fife, W. Lawson, J. C.K. Hui, L. Jandorf, P. F. Cohn, and G. Fricchione Psychosocial Effects of Enhanced External Counterpulsation in the Angina Patient: A Second Study Psychosomatics, April 1, 2001; 42(2): 124 - 132. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
