CARDIOVASCULAR REACTIVITY OF MITRAL-VALVE PROLAPSE PATIENTS DURING EXPERIMENTAL STRESS EXPOSURE - EVIDENCE FOR A FUNCTIONAL NATURE OF CARDIOVASCULAR SYMPTOMS

Citation
R. Dellechiaie et al., CARDIOVASCULAR REACTIVITY OF MITRAL-VALVE PROLAPSE PATIENTS DURING EXPERIMENTAL STRESS EXPOSURE - EVIDENCE FOR A FUNCTIONAL NATURE OF CARDIOVASCULAR SYMPTOMS, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 93(6), 1996, pp. 434-441
Citations number
55
Categorie Soggetti
Psychiatry,Psychiatry
ISSN journal
0001690X
Volume
93
Issue
6
Year of publication
1996
Pages
434 - 441
Database
ISI
SICI code
0001-690X(1996)93:6<434:CROMPP>2.0.ZU;2-I
Abstract
We studied a group of 18 patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP) and a group of 20 healthy controls. Subjects in both groups were subjecte d to a 1-h experimental stress exposure during which Holter-ECG monito ring was performed and was then continued for the following 24 h. MVP patients complained of significant cardiac palpitation during the stre ss session, but ECG examination did not reveal significant inter-group differences. However, the two groups did show statistically significa nt differences in some psychometric measurements (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Anxiety Sensitivity Index, Fear Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, and Harm Avoidance subscale of Tridimensional Personality Q uestionnaire) that underlie personality traits known to be important i n the process fostering functional somatic symptoms, according to the somatosensory amplification model. As no objective signs of cardiac rh ythm modification were found in MVP patients under stress, we postulat e that the symptoms for which these patients were referred have a func tional nature, and that there is no pathogenetic link with the underly ing valvular defect.