Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Jul 26, 2017; 9(7): 620-628
Published online Jul 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i7.620
Infective endocarditis and thoracic aortic disease: A review on forgotten psychological aspects
Mariana Suárez Bagnasco, Iván J Núñez-Gil
Mariana Suárez Bagnasco, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, CP 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay
Iván J Núñez-Gil, Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Clínico Universitario San Carlos, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Author contributions: Suárez Bagnasco M and Núñez-Gil IJ designed the research, analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Suárez Bagnasco M performed the research.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interests regarding this article.
Data sharing statement: Since this manuscript is a review of published studies and it did not involve the participation of subjects, therefore the obtaining of informed consent is waived. Data set available from the corresponding author at email: mariansb@gmail.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mariana Suárez Bagnasco, PhD, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Av. 8 de Octubre 2738, CP 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay. mariansb@gmail.com
Telephone: +598-24872717
Received: November 28, 2016
Peer-review started: December 1, 2016
First decision: March 8, 2017
Revised: April 10, 2017
Accepted: April 18, 2017
Article in press: April 19, 2017
Published online: July 26, 2017
Processing time: 240 Days and 5.8 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To summarize the current evidence on psychological issues in thoracic aortic disease (TAD) and infective endocarditis (IE) setting.

METHODS

We performed a narrative review about psychological issues in adults with IE and TAD. Through the electronic databases, PubMed and PsycINFO, we searched full manuscripts in English and published until September 1, 2014.

RESULTS

We found sixteen studies exploring psychological issues in patients with IE (six studies) and in TAD (ten papers). Psychological issues assessed were quality of life, depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. Quality of life was explored in IE (four papers) and in TAD (eight papers). Depression and anxiety were analyzed in TAD only (five papers). Post-traumatic stress disorder was assessed in IE (one study). Quality of life was found impaired in three of four studies about IE and in three of eight studies about TAD. Posttraumatic stress disorder was present in 11% and was associated with lower levels of quality of life in IE patients. In TAD patients, anxiety and depression levels after different invasive interventions did not differ.

CONCLUSION

Sixteen studies report about psychological issues in IE and TAD. Most of them explore quality of life and to a less extent anxiety and depression.

Keywords: Infective endocarditis; Thoracic aortic disease; Psychology; Depression; Anxiety; Quality of life; Posttraumatic stress disorder

Core tip: Some papers and guidelines have recently reported that psychosocial factors such as depression, anxiety and other mental disorders like personality disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder are related to morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases. Chronic heart failure, arrhythmias, and acute myocardial infarction are one of the most studied pathologies. However, other cardiovascular diseases are poorly or not yet studied from a psychological point of view, including infective endocarditis and thoracic aortic disease. The study of psychological issues in these severe diseases could bring us information about specific needs to cover with psychological interventions and to design specialized care training and practice.