Alexithymia may influence the diagnosis of coronary heart disease
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19308166 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jussi Kauhanen (0000-0003-1426-0199, California Health and Human Services Agency), G A Kaplan (0000-0001-9559-4451), Richard D Cohen (California Health and Human Services Agency), Riitta Salonen (California Health and Human Services Agency), J T Salonen (California Health and Human Services Agency) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 237-244 |
| Publication date | 1994-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychosomatic Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-3174 • E-ISSN: 1534-7796 |
| Publisher | Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1097/00006842-199405000-00010 |
| PMID | 8084970 |
| OpenAlex | W2326283281 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
A number of psychosomatic studies have suggested that alexithymia, impairment in identifying and expressing inner feelings, might somehow affect the course of various illnesses. However, none of these studies have distinguished between an impact of alexithymia on actual pathophysiological change versus an impact only on illness behavior. In the present study, a population-based random sample of 2297 middle-aged men from Eastern Finland was evaluated for alexithymia using the Finnish version of the self-report Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). Although high TAS scores were associated with prior diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD), they were not associated with greater prevalence of ischemia on an exercise tolerance test. The results of B-mode ultrasonography of the carotid artery for those who had a CHD diagnosis showed that carotid atherosclerosis actually decreased significantly as alexithymia increased. An interaction analysis indicated that alexithymia was related to increased probability of being diagnosed with CHD only among those who had mildly or moderately progressed carotid atherosclerosis, and not among those with the most severe progression. Alexithymia was associated with higher perceived exertion, and to some extent, with more self-reported symptoms during the exercise tolerance test. The findings support the hypothesis that alexithymia relates to increased symptom reporting rather than pathophysiological changes in CHD. The results also suggest that alexithymic men may get diagnosed earlier, perhaps because of their different illness behavior
Alexithymia · Cardiology · Disease · Feeling · Population · Toronto Alexithymia Scale · Clinical Psychology · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
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Alexithymia Is Associated With Increased Cardiovascular Mortality in Middle-Aged Finnish Men
The evaluation of primary idiopathic focal hyperhidrosis patients in terms of alexithymia
| Citations per year | 0.23 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1996 - 2013 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |