Objective :
Chest pain is a common complaint in children and adolescents, accounting for numerous emergency visits and leading to a wide range of testing. In this study we sought to determine general anxiety, heart-focused anxiety and their relationship among children with non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP). This assessment provides to predict a possible psychological disorder and avoid unnecessary further medical testing.
Method :
In this prospective case-control study, all patients aged 10-18 years old who were referred pediatric
cardiology with a complaint of chest pain and showed no evidence of obvious medical pathology (n:73) were selected for study group. Also cases who had no chest pain or cardiac disease were accepted as control group (n:26). Each case was interviewed with using Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and patients with chest pain were also interviewed with Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ).
Results :
Fifty-six patients (76.7%) had high BAI scores with a total score of 22 and above. Statistically significant difference was found between BAI scores of study group and control group (p< 0.001). CAQ’s all three subscales (fear, attention and avoidance) were highly correlated with indicators of general anxiety. Cronbach’s alpha for CAQ was 0.834, indicating satisfactory internal consistency.
Conclusion :
The results of this preliminary study suggest that anxiety disorders are more common than predicted in children with NCCP. We believe that most idiopathic chest pain cases have an underlying psychological disorder especially anxious disorder therefore referring to a psychiatrist is suggested. Our study also should take a worthy of particular attention because of being the first study that use CAQ in pediatric clinical practice.
}, number={1}, publisher={Keçiören Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi} }