Fear and distress disorders as predictors of heart disease: A temporal perspective

Abstract

Objective Few studies have been able to contrast associations of anxiety and depression with heart disease. These disorders can be grouped in fear and distress disorders. Aim of this study was to study the association between fear and distress disorders with subsequent heart disease, taking into account the temporal order of disorders. Methods Twenty household surveys were conducted in 18 countries (n=53791; person years=2,212,430). The Composite International Diagnostic Interview assessed lifetime prevalence and age at onset of disorders, and respondents were categorized into categories based on the presence and timing of fear and distress disorders. Heart disease was indicated by self-report of physician-diagnosed heart disease or self-report of heart attack, together with year of onset. Survival analyses estimated associations between disorder categories and heart disease. Results Most respondents with fear or distress disorders had either pure distress or pure fear (8.5% and 7.7% of total sample), while fear preceded distress in the large majority of respondents with comorbid fear and distress (3.8% of total sample). Compared to the “no fear or distress disorder” category, respondents with pure fear disorder had the highest odds of subsequent heart disease (OR:1.8;95%CI:1.5–2.2; p<.001) and compared to respondents with pure distress disorder, these respondents were at a significantly increased risk of heart disease (OR:1.3;95%CI:1.0–1.6; p=0.020). Conclusion This novel analytic approach indicates that the risk of subsequent self-reported heart disease associated with pure fear disorder is significantly larger than the risk associated with distress disorder. These results should be confirmed in prospective studies using objective measures of heart disease.

Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a European Portuguese version of the fear of COVID-19 scale

“…For example, fear weakens the immune system, and is associated with cardiovascular diseases, fatigue, long-term memory impairment, mood swings, among others (Robinson et al, 2013;208 Margarida Jarego et al anales de psicología / annals of psychology, 2023, vol. 39, nº 2 (may) Roest et al, 2017;Rosenberg, 2017;Segerstrom & Miller, 2004). In recent studies about the effects of COVID-19related fear, fear of COVID-19 was found to be associated with an increase in reported depression, anxiety, stress, social isolation, loneliness, sleep problems, and cognitive functioning impairment (Baker et al, 2016;Bitan et al, 2020;Bjursell, 2020;Fofana et al, 2020;Koçak et al, 2021;Pyszczynski et al, 2020).…”

Neutrophilic granulocyte percentage is associated with anxiety in Chinese hospitalized heart failure patients

“…It is reported that prevalence of anxiety in heart failure patients ranged 11% to 70% in different to the literatures [ 3 – 8 ]. Severe anxiety is also associated with the incident cardiovascular diseases [ 9 , 10 ] and also with increased mortality risk of heart failure patients particularly when LVEF is severely decreased [ 11 ].…”

Nosophobia, hypochondriasis, and willingness of people to seek healthcare amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Calabar Metropolis of Cross River State, Nigeria

“…[7] Further, it has been found that poor healthcare seeking behaviour was associated with the fear of being diagnosed of heart diseases and other NCDs. [8] Recently an investigation found a good proportion of men who were scared of being diagnosed of infertility, and accepting vasectomy as a family planning method which as such, prevented them from willingly seeking healthcare. [9] The fear of HIV/AIDS is not different which still lingers till today where people hardly give themselves for voluntary testing to know their status.…”