[Psychiatric disorder or coronary heart disease? Psychological test data and ICD-10 diagnoses in patients undergoing coronary angiography]. / Psychische Störung oder koronare Herzkrankheit? Testpsychologische Befunde und Diagnosen nach ICD-10 bei Patienten vor Koronarangiographie.

Cardiac complaints can indicate the presence of coronary heart disease or psychological disorders. In this prospective study we examined forty patients undergoing coronary angiography. As expected psychological disorders diagnosed according to ICD-10, especially anxiety disorders, were more frequent in patients with normal coronary arteries (60% vs. 25%; p = 0.025). Anxiety symptoms predicted coronary status in uni- and multivariate models. Especially the HADS-D proved useful for this purpose. We propose a graded psychosomatic approach consisting of an anxiety screening test and a standardised interview. This is practicable under medical routine conditions, can facilitate the initiation of proper treatment, and reduce individual distress as well as economical costs by preventing chronification.