Associations between emotional instability, coping, and health outcomes among patients with non-cardiac chest pain.

The main aim of this study was to examine the relationship of emotional instability with illness worry and perceived limitations due to chest pain, and investigate to what degree any associations are mediated by the following chest pain-related coping styles: acceptance, seeking emotional support, seeking instrumental support, and avoidance. Self-reported measures from 94 participants with non-cardiac chest pain were collected. The results showed a relationship between emotional instability, illness worry, and perceived limitations due to chest pain. Moreover, this relationship was mediated by the coping styles avoidance and acceptance.

The role of neuroticism and perceived school-related stress in somatic symptoms among students in Norwegian junior high schools.

The present study investigated the role of neuroticism and perceived school-related stress in somatic symptoms among a sample of 327 (167 females and 160 males) students in two Norwegian junior high schools. The results suggest that the role of neuroticism on somatic symptoms may be overestimated, and that the role of stress may be underestimated if neuroticism, stress and somatic symptoms are measured at the same time. In this study, both neuroticism and perceived school-related stress were found to be significantly associated with somatic symptoms.

The role of coping styles as predictors of depressive symptoms among adolescents: a prospective study.

The present study prospectively explored the main and interactive effect of approach and avoidant like coping styles, as well as school-related stress on depressive symptoms in a sample of 327 (167 females, 160 males) students in two Norwegian secondary schools. The results showed that seeking parental support as a coping style served as a negative predictor of later depression, and results give some support for aggressive coping styles being a risk factor for depressive symptoms. A significant interaction between aggressive coping style and stress in relation to depressive symptoms was found. We were also able to show that school-related stress at T(1) predicted depressive symptoms at T(2).

Depressive symptoms and mortality in patients with congestive heart failure: a six-year follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the possible long-term effect of symptoms of depression on mortality risk among patients with congestive heart failure. MATERIAL/METHODS: Proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the effect of symptoms of depression on mortality among 119 clinically stable patients with symptomatic heart failure, recruited from an outpatient cardiology practice. Fifty-one deaths were registered during the six years of data collection, all from cardiac causes. RESULTS: Symptom of depression were a significant predictor of mortality (relative risk per 1-point increase on the depression scale, 1.05, confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.08; p = 0.016), controlling for the confounding effects of the personality trait of neuroticism, heart failure severity (proANP), gender and age. CONCLUSIONS: Given the long-term effect of depressive symptomatology on CHF mortality found in the present study, health care professionals should identify patients who are at risk of suffering from depression as early as possible, and should try to provide appropriate treatment. There is a need among CHF patients for studies that seek to examine whether treatment of depression reduces the risk of mortality.

Long-term effect of social relationships on mortality in patients with congestive heart failure.

Congestive heart failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality within the Western world, and yet psychosocial impact of this disease is under-researched. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible effects of social relationships (perceived social support and perceived social isolation) on mortality risk in 119 patients with stable, symptomatic congestive heart failure. Fifty-one deaths were registered during the six-year follow-up period, all from cardiac causes. Analysis using proportional hazard models indicated that social isolation was a significant predictor of mortality (relative risk, 1.36; confidence interval, 1.04 to 1.78; p < 0.03), controlling for neuroticism, heart failure severity, functional status, gender, and age. The small sample size was a limitation of the study; therefore, further research is required in order to confirm these findings and to illuminate the mechanisms behind the relationships between social isolation and mortality.