Combined profiles derived from cardiovascular risk factors, health-promoting lifestyle, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms

Abstract

Background: Obviously, determining and organizing patients' health profile is important after a cardiac event or procedure. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of cluster analysis of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, illness risk factors, and health-promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP) in patients with heart disease. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 201 patients with established heart disease in a hospital in the west of Iran. The participants were randomly selected during January-May 2017. The self-report checklist for demographics and cardiovascular risk factors, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II), and the NSESSS-PTSD were the measurement tools. The results were analyzed using two-stage cluster analysis (TSCA), one-way ANOVA, and Bonferroni post hoc test. Results: The mean age of patients (50.2% female) was 53.4 ± 11.9 years old. TSCA provided the three clusters: (A) samples with poor lifestyle/high PTSD (36.3%); (B) samples with a relatively poor lifestyle/moderate PTSD (20.9%); and (C) samples with a relatively good lifestyle/mild PTSD (42.8%). In most variables, there is a significant difference between clusters A and C (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The profiles of risk factors, lifestyle, and experienced PTSD symptoms are not the same for all patients with heart disease. So, specialists should focus on high-risk groups through the design and delivery of appropriate interventions and cardiac rehabilitation programs tailored to the unique Profiles.