Coping and mortality among patients with congestive heart failure

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of different coping style s on mortality risk among patients with symptomatic congestive heart failur e (CHF). Proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the effects of di fferent coping styles on mortality among 119 clinically stable patients (71 .4% men, mean age 65.7 +/- 9.6 years), recruited from an outpatient cardiol ogy practice. Twenty deaths were registered during the 24-month period of d ata collection, all from cardiac causes. The findings showed that behaviora l disengagement was a significant predictor of mortality with a hazard rati o of 1.64 (p less than or equal to .049), whereas acceptance of the CHF con dition showed a marginally significant association with mortality (hazard r atio .64; p less than or equal to .09). The results suggest that behavioral disengagement in relation to coping with disease-related strain is a signi ficant predictor of mortality among heart failure patients. This finding is of concern to clinicians and should have implications for treatment of pat ients with CHF. Given the link between behavioral disengagement and mortali ty demonstrated in this study, it is important to explore ways in which cou nseling in active coping skills might help patients who behaviorally diseng age to manage their disease and thereby increase their longevity.