Factors associated with anxiety in premature coronary artery disease patients: THC-PAC study

Background: Anxiety may negatively affect the course of coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of this study was to assess which factors are associated with anxiety in young adults with CAD. A cohort of individuals with premature coronary artery disease was formed between 2004-2011, as the Tehran Heart Center's Premature Coronary Atherosclerosis Cohort (THC-PAC) study. Patients (men ≤ 45-year-old, and women ≤ 55-year-old) were visited between March 2013 and February 2014. All participants were examined, and their demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. Then, all participants filled in the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Logistic regression models were used to identifying factors related to anxiety in both sexes. During the study, 708 patients (mean [SD] age: 45.3 [5.8] y, men: 48.2%) were visited. Anxiety was present in 53.0% of participants (66.0% of women and 39.0% of men). The logistic regressions model showed that the associated factors for anxiety in men were opium usage (OR=1.89, 95%CI: 1.09-3.27), positive family history (OR=1.49, 95%CI: 0.94-2.35), and creatinine serum level (OR=1.17, 95%CI: 1.05-1.303); and in women were major adverse cardiac events (MACE) during follow-up (OR=2.30, 95%CI: 1.25-4.23), hypertension (OR=1.71, 95%CI: 1.07-2.73) and the duration of CAD (OR=0.99, 95%CI: 0.98-1.00). In premature CAD patients, the determinants of anxiety seem to be different in each sex. Opium usage, positive family history of CAD, and creatinine serum levels in men, and MACE, hypertension, and duration of CAD in women appear the relevant factors in this regard.