The question: Might psychological distress play a role in the chest pain, or angina, that sometimes occurs in people with coronary-artery disease, the most common type of heart disease?
This study: It involved 191 adults (average age, 63) with partial blockage of a coronary artery, including 57 who reported having daily or weekly bouts of angina and 66 with monthly angina attacks. People with at least moderate anxiety symptoms, based on standardized scales, were nearly five times as likely as those without anxiety to have frequent angina. People with depression were three times as likely to have frequent angina as were those who were not depressed.
Who may be affected? People with coronary-artery disease, which occurs when blood flow to the heart is slowed by narrowed arteries or clots. Most but not all people with this condition also experience angina, a feeling of pressure or squeezing in the chest that sometimes extends to the arms, back, neck or jaw.
Caveats: The study did not determine whether anxiety or depression increased angina or whether having angina contributed to anxiety or depression, and it did not test whether treating anxiety and depression would reduce angina attacks. Most participants were white men. Data on angina were based on the participants' recall.
Find this study: June 30 issue of Circulation.
Learn more: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health and www.mayoclinic.com.
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