Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Alexithymic and nonalexithymic hypertensives were assessed for severity of hypertension using a weighting system based on diastolic blood pressure, optic fundi, ECG, chest X ray, renal studies, and patient history. Outpatient hypertensives (diastolic blood pressure greater than 95 mm Hg) were selected as subjects because they are largely asymptomatic; thus, focusing on somatic ills to the exclusion of thoughts about emotions is not likely to be due to their hypertensive pathology but rather reflects psychological constitution. Controlling for age differences, it was found that alexithymics manifested more severe hypertensive sequelae than did nonalexithymics ; there was, however, no difference in severity of atherosclerosis. The results suggest that alexithymia is not only correlated with hypertension but may also play a role in its etiology.
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PMID:The effect of alexithymia on morbidity in hypertensives. 672 9

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.
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PMID:Alexithymia may influence the diagnosis of coronary heart disease. 808 70

Few studies have focused on psychological factors involved in the course of peripheral atherosclerosis, particularly in smoking cessation, which is a major point in the outcome of the disease. In this view, we assessed in 19 men hospitalised for intermittent claudication, some personality and emotional characteristics associated with the patients' recent smoking behaviour. Patients included tend to have high scores of state-anxiety and alexithymia (with difficulty to identify and express their emotions), and to benefit from an efficient social support made of few persons. Concerning the smoking behaviour from the past six months, only 8 subjects stopped smoking and 13 subjects made an effort in this way, despite relatively low nicotine dependence scores, severe peripheral atherosclerosis with frequent erection disorders, and awareness of the importance to stop smoking to improve the outcome. Presence of erection disorders, and eventually higher alexithymia scores, may facilitate the smoking cessation. The main reasons explaining the difficulty to stop smoking don't seem to be pharmacologically induced, neither a denegation of the bad effects of smoking on outcome, but more surely a psychological and complex dependence. It would be essential to assess more precisely the psychological characteristics of the patient to propose more efficient treatment.
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PMID:[Psychological factors associated in smoking cessation in patients with arterial occlusive disease of the legs]. 1119 7