Study published: Exploring association between anxiety and recurrent cardiovascular events
Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
A recent study in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing has analysed the association between anxiety and recurrent major adverse cardiac events in post-myocardial infarction patients.
The study used data gathered in the U-CARE Heart trial with 935 participants, focusing on different aspects of self-reported anxiety: behavioural, physiological, affective, and cognitive. Participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale along with the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire.
During a mean follow-up period of just below three years, 124 individuals (13%) experienced a recurrent major adverse cardiac event (MACE). Findings revealed both HADS Anxiety and CAQ Total scores were linked to increased MACE risk. Notably, the CAQ subscale Avoidance was found to be associated with increased risk of MACE, unlike the two subscales Attention and Fear.
The study highlights anxiety as a risk factor for recurrent MACE in these patients, particularly in behavioural and physiological aspects. However, no associations with cognitive and affective aspects of anxiety were found. The authors suggest that these findings can be used to more effectively identify high-risk individuals in clinical practice.
Miro Anter
Read the article
It is written by Philip Leissner, Claes Held, Sophia Humphries, Elisabet Rondung, and Erik Olsson.