Highlights
- •Health anxiety in heart transplanted patients has been neglected by the literature.
- •Health anxiety was significantly associated with a worse clinical status.
- •An important subset of patients showed clinically significant fears of illness.
- •Health anxiety should be carefully assessed during the transplantation program.
- •Specific interventions for health anxiety may be necessary after transplantation.
Abstract
Background
Health anxiety is an important component of psychological adjustment to chronic medical
conditions. However, it has been overlooked after heart transplantation.
Objectives
To examine demographic, clinical, and psychological correlates of health anxiety in
heart transplanted patients and to compare health anxiety between patients and a sample
of matched controls from the general population.
Methods
The study design was observational. Seventy-three cardiac recipients and 73 controls
completed the Illness Attitude Scales and the Symptom Questionnaire. Patients’ clinical
parameters were collected.
Results
Health anxiety was significantly associated with clinical variables suggesting a worse
outcome, especially a higher NYHA class and occurrence of cancer. Compared to controls,
patients had significantly more “hypochondriacal responses” (32.9% vs. 16.4%), an
index of clinically significant health anxiety.
Conclusions
Health anxiety affects a significant subset of heart transplanted patients and deserves
a thorough assessment. Cardiologists’ and nurses’ specific communication skills and
psychological treatment strategies may be necessary.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
IAS (illness attitude scales), NYHA (New York heart association), SQ (symptom questionnaire), VIF (variance inflation factor)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 04, 2020
Accepted:
December 9,
2019
Received in revised form:
December 5,
2019
Received:
June 26,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
