Which psychological, psychophysiological, and anthropometric factors are connected with life events, depression, and quality of life in patients with cardiovascular disease

Health-Related Quality of Life and Influencing Factors in Coronary Heart Disease Based on the Scale QLICD-CHD (V2.0): A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is difficult to cure, so more attention should be paid to improving patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This paper focuses on identifying factors that affect HRQoL.

Patients and Methods

Overall, 189 in-patients with coronary heart disease were investigated at the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University between 2015 and 2016. The scale Quality of Life Instruments for Chronic Diseases-Coronary heart disease (QLICD-CHD V2.0) was used to evaluate HRQoL and collect demographic information. Medical records were applied to collect patients' clinical indicators. A simple correlation analysis, Student's t-test, and a one-way analysis of variance were first performed to filter factors that might associate with HRQoL, and multiple linear regression was applied to finally identify related factors.

Results

Findings from multiple linear regression showed that the total score was related to family economy, treatment, indirect bilirubin, and albumin with regression coefficient B=5.209, -6.615, 0.378, and 0.548, respectively. The physical functions were related to treatment, albumin, globular proteins, chloride, and red blood cell count with B=-9.031, 1.000, 0.612, 1.320, and 5.161, respectively. The psychological function was in association with family economy, clinical course, serum phosphorus, and percentage of lymphocyte population with B=7.487, 6.411, -16.458, and 0.090, respectively. The social function was associated with family economy, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and platelet distribution width with B=7.391, 1.331, -0.060, and -0.929, respectively. The special module was in association with treatment, indirect bilirubin, and serum calcium with B=-7.791, 0.414, and 23.017, respectively.

Conclusion

Clinical indicators including albumin, globular proteins, chloride, red blood cell count, serum phosphorus, percentage of lymphocyte population, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, platelet distribution width, indirect bilirubin, and serum calcium, as well as socio-demographic factors including the family economy, clinical course, and treatment, may affect coronary heart disease patients' HRQoL.

Relation of personality factors and life events to waist/height ratio and percentage of visceral fat in women and men

PURPOSE

The investigation aimed to explore the association between personality traits, stressful life events, quality of life on anthropometric characteristics (waist/height ratio and percentage of visceral fat).

METHOD

A total of 227 participants took part in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised, Type-D Scale (DS-14), EuroQol Group 5-Dimension Self-Report Questionnaire (EQ-5D), and demographic questionnaire. Two anthropometric parameters were measured: Waist/height ratio and Percentage of the visceral fat.

RESULTS

The average age of participants was 39.6±12.9 years, 60.4% women. The 41.8% of participants were overweight or obese. Regression analysis found a significant link between Harm-avoidance and EQ-5D visual analog scale (VAS) with Waist/height ratio in women and Reward dependence and Cooperativeness with Waist/height ratio in men. In regression analysis, the score of life events (SRRS) has statistically significant linked to Percentage of the visceral fat in women. The regression analysis also found a significant link between Novelty seeking, DS14, Negative affectivity, and EQ-5D VAS with Percentage of the visceral fat in women.

CONCLUSION

Significant associations between live events, personality traits, and body anthropometric measures were recognized. The differences were recognized between women and men. Outcomes propose some promising tools by which personality factors may influence overweight and obesity.

Emotional Dysregulation as a Factor of Psychosomatic Disturbances in Depression and Cardiovascular Pathology (Analytical Review of Foreign Literature)

The review presents data on cognitive processes of emotional regulation, which are the result of the interaction of the activity of the prefrontal cortex and emotional centers, as the most important pathogenetic link in the psychosomatic relations of depressive and cardiovascular diseases. The neuroanatomical substrate of emotional regulation is the connection between emotional and cognitive processes, which are carried out through bidirectional neuronal interactions between the neocortex and emotional centers. This connection allows emotional centers to modulate cortical activity, and cognitive centers, through descending cortical influences, to modulate the processing of emotions. At present, direct and indirect connections of the frontal cortex with the centers of the autonomic nervous system and its stimulating sympathetic and inhibitory parasympathetic influences have been confirmed. Pathogenetic links of emotional dysregulation include neurobiological and cognitive (rumination, fixation on negative information) processes. The pathophysiological mechanisms of depression and cardiovascular diseases have common links - the dysregulation of the metabolic, immunological and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal systems. The tendency to negative emotional response, the prevalence of negative emotions and alexithymia (low awareness of emotions) stand out as predictors of the development of both cardiovascular diseases and depression. Studies aimed at studying the typology and meaning of emotional dysregulation in various forms of psychopathological disorders in the aspect of comorbidity and psychosomatic relationships with somatic diseases can be fruitful in terms of finding new approaches to diagnosis and therapy.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) and Other Augmentation Strategies for Therapy-Resistant Depression (TRD): Review of the Evidence and Clinical Advice for Use

In addition to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is one of the approved neurostimulation tools for treatment of major depression. VNS is particularly used in therapy-resistant depression (TRD) and exhibits antidepressive and augmentative effects. In long-term treatment, up to two-thirds of patients respond. This mini-review provides a comprehensive overview of augmentation pharmacotherapy and neurostimulation-based treatment strategies, with a special focus on VNS in TRD, and provides practical clinical advice for how to select TRD patients for add-on neurostimulation treatment strategies.

The differences between patients with panic disorder and healthy controls in psychophysiological stress profile

BACKGROUND

Alarming somatic symptoms, in particular, cardiovascular symptoms, are the characteristic feature of panic attacks. Increased cardiac mortality and morbidity have been found in these patients. Power spectral analysis of electrocardiogram R-R intervals is known to be a particularly successful tool in the detection of autonomic instabilities in various clinical disorders. Our study aimed to compare patients with panic disorder and healthy controls in heart rate variation (HRV) parameters (very-low-frequency [VLF], low-frequency [LF], and high-frequency [HF] band components of R-R interval) in baseline and during the response to the mental task.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

We assessed psychophysiological variables in 33 patients with panic disorder (10 men, 23 women; mean age 35.9±10.7 years) and 33 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (10 men, 23 women; mean age 35.8±12.1 years). Patients were treatment naïve. Heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and HRV in basal conditions and after the psychological task were assessed. Power spectrum was computed for VLF (0.003-0.04 Hz), LF (0.04-0.15 Hz), and HF (0.15-0.40 Hz) bands using fast Fourier transformation.

RESULTS

In the baseline period, the VLF band was significantly lower in panic disorder group compared to controls (p<0.005). In the period of mental task, the LF/HF ratio was significantly higher in panic disorder patients compared to controls (p<0.05). No significant differences were found in the remaining parameters. There was a significant difference in ΔHF and ΔLF/HF ratio between patients and controls, with Δ increasing in patients and decreasing in controls.

CONCLUSION

These findings revealed that patients suffering from panic disorder were characterized by relative sympathetic dominance (reactivity) in response to mental stress compared with healthy controls.

Coping, schemas, and cardiovascular risks - study protocol

The aim of this article is to describe the protocol of a trial focusing on the psychological, anthropometric, cardiac, and psychophysiological factors contributing to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). As background, the article provides a short overview of research literature linking personal traits, maladaptive schemas, and coping styles with CVDs through reactivity of the autonomic nervous system.