Pain intensity in nondiabetic patients with myocardial infarction or unstable angina - Its association with clinical and psychological features

Sixty nondiabetic coronary artery disease (CAD) patients submitted to coron ary angiography were asked to rate (score 0 to 20) pain intensity (RPI) dur ing their last major anginal episode having occurred prior to coronary angi ography. This parameter was examined in relation to other variables of CAD and to psychological features. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that R PI was not related to New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification of a ngina or to angiographic variables. Yet, RPI was found to be significantly affected by psychological features: higher RPI scores were reported by low state anxiety patients (P=0.008), by Type A coronary-prone behavior patient s (P=0.02) and by patients with high depression (P=0.03). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.