The relationship of psychological variables and physiological reactivity to psychological stress in coronary artery disease patients
Year: 2005
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: There is mounting quantitative evidence demonstrating a relationship between \nvarious psychological variables and the development or course of coronary artery disease \n(CAD). Current research in this area clearly illustrates the important role that \npsychological stress plays in both developing and exacerbating CAD, possibly through \nthe induction of myocardial ischemia (a reduced flow of oxygenated blood to the heart). \nTherefore it is intuitive that psychological variables aiding a person in avoiding the stress \nresponse altogether would serve a protective function against experiencing ischemic \nepisodes. The present study examined link between ischemia and psychological variables \nsuch as self-efficacy and preventive coping resources utilization that are thought to serve \nthis protective function. It was hypothesized that individuals who reacted ischemically to \npsychological (a series of auditory noises and video clips, speech task, and arithmetic \ntask) and physical (treadmill) stress tasks would have lower levels of self-reported \npreventive coping resources, general self-efficacy, and cardiac self-efficacy, and higher \nlevels of depression than individuals who did not react ischemically. The author’s goal in \n vi \nbeginning to understand the link between these protective psychological variables and \ncardiovascular disease is to proactively identify such variables so that these \ncharacteristics can be developed and/or strengthened through future treatment \ninterventions. \nFifty male military veterans from the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System \n(CTVHCS) participated in the study. After filling out a series of inventories, the \nparticipants engaged in a series of three mental stress tasks and a treadmill stress test. A \ncardiologist evaluated the participants before and after each of the mental stress tasks and \nthe treadmill stress test using a 12-lead ECG (which also provided information on heart \nrate), an echocardiogram, and a blood pressure cuff. Using this information, the \ncardiologist identified participants as either ischemic reactors or non-reactors. \nResults indicate that ischemic reactor and non-reactor groups do indeed differ on \nmeasures of depression and preventive coping resources when exposed to psychological \nstress and on levels of social self-efficacy when exposed to physical stress. Further, \ndepression was predicted by the participants’ perceived level of preventive coping \nresources. Implications of the study, as well as study limitations and directions for future \nresearch are discussed.
Author: Anna P. Dematatis
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1940056712