IHP 525 Final Project Part I

Both of the articles that I had selected to review had to do with gender differences in symptoms with patients dealing with coronary disease. Both articles ran studies as to what depressive symptoms men and women had suffering from coronary heart disease, and whether one gender is affected in higher degrees than the other.

Cross-sectional design was the method used to study individuals that suffered with depressive symptoms and had coronary heart disease in both of the selected articles. The study was to see if key characteristics can be found that distinguish males from females. The patients selected completed a questionnaire to measure levels of anxiety, knowledge, hostility and other factors about CHD. The results showed that women suffered from higher levels of anxiety, to name one example, than men in regard to their illness. Women were more likely to be single (odds ratio [OR] 3.61, P < .001), to be unemployed (OR 2.52, P < .001), to be poorly educated (OR 2.52, P < .001), to be anxious (OR 1.14, P < .01), and to perceive lower control over health (OR 1.34, P < .01) than men. ( Doering et al., 2010).The studies conducted and reviewed in both articles shows that there is indeed a strong connection between depression and coronary heart diseases. Secondly, women seem to suffer more and have higher levels of depression than males do, no matter the size or age of the study group.

Can and is there perhaps a psychological reason that factors into this? More studies would have to be conducted to try to determine why it is that women suffer at greater levels with depressive symptoms than men. As stated by (Frazier et al., 2012), that significantly more females (43.5%) reported feeling depressed over the past year than compared to males (27.2%). The findings did not solve the existing health problems of those that participated, but it did create the next step in the process to determine what level of treatment, and help is needed for these patients to help them in managing their illnesses.

References

Doering, L. V., McKinley, S., Riegel, B., Moser, D. K., Meischke, H., Pelter, M. M., & Dracup, K. (2011). Gender-specific characteristics of individuals with depressive symptoms and coronary heart disease. Heart & Lung: The Journal of Critical Care, 40(3), e4–e14. doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2010.04.002 http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cm edm&AN=20561880&site=eds-live&scope=site

Frazier, L., Yu, E., Sanner, J., Liu, F., Udtha,M., Cron, S., & . . . Bogaev, R. C. (2012). Gender differences in self-reported symptoms of depression among patients with acute coronary syndrome. Nursing Research & Practice, 1-5. doi:10.1155/2012/109251 http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9 h&AN=86826621&site=eds-live&scope=site