Age differences in the association of severe psychological distress and behavioral factors with heart disease

Comparison of Sexual Knowledge between Patients Prepared for Cardiac Surgery and Patients Prepared for Cardiac Rehabilitation in Iran

Background: Although sexual death during intercourse occurs rarely in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), most such patients avoid it because they fear a dangerous event. Given the significance of awareness about this issue among patients with CVDs, we sought to compare sexual knowledge between 2 groups of patients prepared for cardiac surgery and patients prepared for cardiac rehabilitation (CR).

Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted between April and July 2016, recruited 157 patients with CVDs (107 candidates for surgery and 50 patients prepared for CR) in Imam Ali Hospital, in the Iranian city of Kermanshah. The cases, selected through entire counting according to our inclusion criteria, responded to a standard sexual knowledge inventory. Sexual knowledge and professionals responsible in providing sexual rehabilitation from the perspective of patients were compared using the independent t-test and the χ² test.

Results: The participants’ mean age was 55.39±9.82 years (male: 58.6%). Overall, the 2 groups had poor sexual knowledge. Although the CR program started 57.85±13.92 days after surgery, the sexual knowledge of this group of patients was not significantly different from that of the patients prepared for surgery (P=0.904). This difference was not significant between the 2 genders (P=0.077). Finally, concerning the professionals responsible in providing sexual rehabilitation, the patients selected psychologists (P=0.006) and nurses (P=0.012) more frequently in the initial phase of CR program.

Conclusion: Sexual knowledge was poor in our CR patients at the outset of the program. Given the poor knowledge in these patients 2 months after surgery and the lack of significant difference in knowledge between these patients and those prepared for surgery, it is advisable that they be provided with the necessary information in this regard in this golden time before hospital discharge.

Risk of anxiety and depressive disorders in patients with myocardial infarction: A nationwide population-based cohort study

Anxiety and depressive symptoms are associated with adverse cardiovascular events after an acute myocardial infarction (MI). However, most studies focusing on anxiety or depression have used rating scales or self-report methods rather than clinical diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate the association between psychiatrist-diagnosed psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular prognosis.We sampled data from the National Health Insurance Research Database; 1396 patients with MI were recruited as the study cohort and 13,960 patients without MI were recruited as the comparison cohort. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to examine the effect of MI on the risk of anxiety and depressive disorders.During the first 2 years of follow-up, patients with MI exhibited a significantly higher risk of anxiety disorders (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 5.06, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.61-5.54) and depressive disorders (adjusted HR = 7.23, 95% CI: 4.88-10.88) than those without MI did. Greater risk for anxiety and depressive disorders was observed among women and patients aged 45 to 64 years following an acute MI. Patients with post-MI anxiety had a 9.37-fold (95% CI: 4.45-19.70) higher risk of recurrent MI than those without MI did after adjustment for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and comorbidities.This nationwide population-based cohort study provides evidence that MI increases the risk of anxiety and depressive disorders during the first 2 years post-MI, and post-MI anxiety disorders are associated with a higher risk of recurrent MI.