Relationship between anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease: a cross-sectional study

Trabalho Final do Mestrado Integrado em Medicina apresentado à Faculdade de MedicinaBackground: Cardiovascular disease represent the leading cause of death worldwide. Furthermore, cardiovascular disease is also responsible for the consumption of many medical resources, work absenteeism and for worse quality of life of the patients. On the other hand, psychiatric diseases have recently gained more relevance worldwide as one of the principal causes of disability. The most recent literature has been studying the relationship between cardiovascular disease and mental disorder, namely anxiety and depression.Objectives: To evaluate the association between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and anxious or depressive symptoms. To evaluate the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and anxious or depressive symptoms.Methods: Observational and cross-sectional study in a convenience sample, composed by patients followed on USF VitaSaurium, USF As Gândras, USF Coimbra Centro, USF Caminhos do Cértoma and USF Manuel Cunha who voluntarily accepted to answer the questionnaire through an interview, which took place between July 2020 and January 2021. After informed consent, a questionnaire was carried out including sociodemographic characterization, presence of cardiovascular disease and/or cardiovascular risk factors and the Portuguese version of HADS. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed, using Mann-Whitney U test. A value of p<0,05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Sample of 179 people, 53,1% female, with an average age of 51,05 ± 22,02 years, in which 57,5% had one or more CVRF and 59,8% had CVD and/or CVFR and the most prevalent CVRF were hypertension (48%) and dyslipidemia (43,6%). There was a statistically significant relationship only between diabetes and anxiety (p=0,005). Discussion and conclusion: There was a greater risk of anxiety in people with diabetes compared to people without diabetes. In clinical practice, this fact suggests the importance of giving attention to anxious symptoms in people with diabetes, given the relevance of this comorbidity in patients` quality of life. The main limitation of the study is related with the sample size which, if maximized and randomized, would make it possible to confirm and generalize the data obtained.Introdução: As doenças cardiovasculares representam a primeira causa de morte em todo o mundo. Para além disso, a doença cardiovascular é igualmente responsável pelo consumo de muitos recursos médicos, absentismo laboral e por uma pior qualidade de vida dos doentes. Por outro lado, os distúrbios psiquiátricos têm ganho recentemente cada vez mais relevância no panorama mundial como uma das principais causas de incapacidade. A literatura mais recente tem vindo a estudar relação da doença cardiovascular com a doença mental, nomeadamente a ansiedade e a depressão.Objetivos: Avaliar possível associação entre doença cardiovascular (DCV) e sintomatologia ansiosa ou depressiva, comparando com indivíduos saudáveis. Avaliar possível relação entre existência de fatores de risco cardiovascular (FRCV) e sintomatologia ansiosa ou depressiva.Métodos: Estudo observacional e transversal em amostra não probabilística e de conveniência, composta por utentes seguidos na USF VitaSaurium, USF As Gândras, USF Coimbra Centro, USF Caminhos do Cértoma e USF Manuel Cunha que aceitaram voluntariamente responder ao questionário através de entrevista entre julho de 2020 e janeiro de 2021. Após consentimento informado, foi realizado questionário que incluiu caracterização sociodemográfica do participante, presença de fatores de risco cardiovascular e de doença cardiovascular e a versão portuguesa da HADS. Foi realizada estatística descritiva e inferencial, tendo sido utilizado o teste U de Mann Whitney. Considerou-se estatisticamente significativo um valor de p