Objective: This study examined cardiovascular disease (CVD) illness perceptions and how they relate to depressive symptomatology among women and men.
Methods: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients at two hospitals were approached, and 661 consented to participate (504 men, 157 women; 75% response rate). Participants completed a survey including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ).
Results: Women perceived a significantly more chronic course (P<.001) and more cyclical episodes (P<.05) than men did, while men perceived greater personal control (P<.001) and treatability (P<.05) than women did. Participants perceived diet, heredity, and stress as the greatest CVD causes. For women (F=5.49, P<.001), greater depressive symptomatology was significantly related to younger age (P<.05), lower activity status (P<.001), and perceiving a chronic time course (P<.01). For men (F=7.68, P<.001), greater depressive symptomatology was significantly related to being non-white (P<.05), lower activity status (P<.001), less exercise behavior (P=.01), and three illness perceptions, namely, perceiving a chronic course (P<.05), greater consequences (P<.001), and lower treatability (P<.05).
Conclusion: Women, compared with men, are more likely to attribute CVD to causes beyond their control and to perceive CVD as a chronic, untreatable condition. Illness perceptions were related to depressive symptomatology, which suggests that interventions to reframe these perceptions may be warranted to improve emotional health in the context of CVD.