European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background: Psychosocial disturbance can have its effect on all organ systems of our body including cardiovascular system and at the same time prolonged cardiovascular diseases may also lead to worsening of mental health in people. Objective: Present study is carried out to find the effect of certain common psychiatric diseases and social stresses along with the effect of different levels of social support on the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Material and Method: The present cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in cardiac ward and on new and follow up cases in outpatient unit, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. 100 participants male and female of all age groups were taken as cases along with 100 participants as control after obtaining written informed consent by purposive sampling.

Data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0. The statistical tests used were student’s t-test and chi square test.

DSM-5 criteria, M.I.N.I, Perceived social stress scale, Oslo’s social support system and Modified Kuppuswamy criteria were used to carry out study. Results: Out of the total population under study, 15% of all the CVD cases were found to have psychiatric illness prior to cardiovascular disease where as 21% of CVD patients developed psychiatric illness after having diagnosed for cardiovascular disease. Among these cases 82% were having low social support. Gender predilection for psychiatric diseases in CVD patients was found to be more in females (12%) compared to males (9%) with (p-value = 0.042) and chi square value of 4.13. Conclusion: This research indicates that psychiatric illnesses and low social support can act as an independent risk factor for CVD while CVD patients are susceptible to develop psychiatric illnesses over the course of disease. We recommend multi centre detailed study with higher sample size in this area to generalize the results and use them for the benefit of society