• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2012

Objectives : The objective of this study is to measure and to compare the rate of depression, anxiety, self-es-teem and the quality of life of the patients with chest pain. Based on the result of this study, the necessity of the psychiatric assessment and treatment of the patients with chest pain is emphasized. This study is a preliminary research for a larger scale investigation to be carried out in the future. Methods : Thirty nine patients with chest pain who visited Cardiovascular Division of Dept. of Internal Medicine Pusan National University Hospital and fourty normal control group(NC) were included in this study. The patients were classified into typical chest pain group(TCP, N=19) and atypical chest pain group(ACP, N=20) based on the cause of the pain. The cause was determined by cardiac computed tomography, exercise stress test, coronary angiography, and questionaires by a cardiology specialist. The patients were assessed with Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(RSES) and Korean version of the Smith Klein Beecham 'Quality of Life' scale(KvSBQOL). Results : 1) When the risk factors of cardiac disease is compared, most of the factors(Hypertension, Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, Cerebral infarction) did not differ significantly among the two chest pain groups, except for the family history, for which TCP group showed higher risk than ACP group did. 2) As for the self-report questionaires scores, BDI score, which indicates the rate of depression, of both ACP group and TCP group was significantly higher than that of NC group in BDI for depression. STAI score, which measures anxiety, was also significantly high in both groups. Especially, STAI score was significantly higher in ACP group than TCP group. 3) In the aspect of self-esteem and quality of life, ACP group scored significantly lower than TCP group and NC group. The scores for TCP group and NC group did not differ significantly. Conclusions : The patients with chest pain showed more depression and anxiety than normal control group, regardless of the cause of the pain. However, TCP group did not show significantly larger drop in self-esteem and quality of life than ACP group did. This result implies that early psychiatric assessment and treatment is needed for the patients with such chest pain, since it is highly likely that the pain would lead to lower quality of life of the patients.