Cardiovascular Symptoms in Coronary-Artery Disease Patients Are Strongly Correlated With Emotional Distress

BackgroundThe relationship of cardiovascular events and cardiovascular symptoms is unclear, and physical symptoms, including most cardiovascular symptoms, are known to be influenced by emotional distress.ObjectiveAuthors examined the relative strength of association of multiple measures of emotional distress and accepted cardiac risk factors with five common cardiac symptoms (chest pain, fatigue, palpitations, presyncope, and dyspnea).MethodThe authors tested the association of multiple cardiovascular symptoms with various measures of emotional distress (i.e., the scales of the Symptom Checklist-90–Revised) and the putative risk factors for disease status in 109 patients with documented coronary artery disease.ResultsMeasures of emotional distress were stronger correlates of patient-rated distress due to the symptoms than were traditional risk factors.ConclusionTreatment of emotional distress may be a viable strategy for symptom-control in cardiovascular disease.