Anxiety on heart function in psychiatric patients

Abstract

Introduction

Cardiac anxiety and its consequences is one of the issues in the research on pain. The special characteristics of people with psychiatric pathology affect the experience of this type of anxiety?

Aim

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential relationship between the cardiac anxieties with the experience of psychiatric pathology in persons hospitalized with a psychiatric problem.

Materials and methods

The study sample consisted of seventy patients hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic. The Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire as well a demographic questionnaire was used in order to measure the necessary parameters.

Results

People coming from a small town have greater anxiety for their cardiac function in the total of the questionnaire (P = .026), as well in the subscale of the avoidance (P = .011).

The stressful event of childhood is a factor influencing the anxiety of focalization in cardiac function in adulthood (P = .013). Moreover, schizophrenic patients tend to have higher scores of cardiac anxiety, than patients with bipolar disorder (P = .040).

Conclusions

The genesis of cardiac anxiety depends on the experiences of childhood and the wider social situations. The psychiatric pathology contributes to the appearance of this type of anxiety. The establishment of educational programs for the health care staff would be useful in order to improve the diagnostic ability of the cardiac anxiety especially in the psychiatric population.