Resumen:
Background:
Pulmonary hypertension is a highly disabling condition characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary arterial pressure. Even though pulmonary hypertension may cause great emotional distress, research examining the determinants of patients’ emotional well-being has been scarce and has mostly focused on the role of disease-related factors.
Objectives:
This study examined whether patients’ emotional well-being may be effected by their life circumstances.
Methods:
Sixty-four patients with pulmonary hypertension completed measures of symptoms of pulmonary hypertension, functional disability, depression and anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction, optimism, and quality of life (QoL).
Results:
Clinically-significant symptoms of depression and anxiety were only accurately predicted in 50.5% and 56.5% of patients, respectively, based on disease severity alone. However, the addition of life satisfaction and optimism to the models improved the prediction of depressive and anxiety symptomatology. Further, symptoms of anxiety were a significant predictor of QoL, above and beyond disease severity.
Conclusions:
Patients with considerably different levels of disease severity may ...