Anxiety-proneness and coronary heart disease

The findings of this exploratory work suggest that high anxiety levels may serve a protective function and that anxiety in patients without a history of MI may be an important factor in the decision to have them referred for diagnostic coronary angiography.

Abstract

This study reports results from a concurrent double-blind investigation of 142 patients referred for diagnostic coronary angiography at Duke University Medical Center. An attempt was made to determine whether anatomic coronary involvement was related to a number of psychological variables including a measure of "anxiety-proneness". All patients underwent psychological assessment on the morning following the catheterization procedure, before clinical and laboratory data were made available. Although anxiety was not found to be statistically associated with significant coronary atherosclerosis, patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI) were found to be significantly less anxious than patients without such history. The findings of this exploratory work suggest that high anxiety levels may serve a protective function and that anxiety in patients without a history of MI may be an important factor in the decision to have them referred for diagnostic coronary angiography.