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Assessment of Vital Exhaustion and Identification of Subjects at Increased Risk of Myocardial Infarction in General Practice

Received July 2, 2003; revision received Dec. 19, 2003; accepted Jan. 30, 2004. From the Department of General Practice and the Department of Medical Psychology, University of Maastricht; and the Research Institute for Extramural and Transmural Health Care, Maastricht, the Netherlands. Address reprint requests to Dr. Dinant, Department of General Practice, University of Maastricht, the Netherlands; geertjan.dinant{at}hag.unimaas.nl (e-mail).

Vital exhaustion, a state characterized by unusual fatigue, loss of energy, increased irritability, and feelings of demoralization, is one of the cardiovascular risk factors. The authors investigated whether vital exhaustion contributes to the identification of subjects at increased risk of myocardial infarction in general practice. In this prospective cohort study, vital exhaustion was assessed with the Maastricht Interview on Vital Exhaustion. Other cardiovascular risk factors established were age, gender, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, body mass index, smoking habits, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus. A Cox regression analysis was used. The subjects were adults (41–66 years) in an average Dutch village population. Outcome measures were fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction. At the univariate level, vital exhaustion doubled the risk of myocardial infarction. The effect of exhaustion was confounded by gender; women had higher exhaustion scores and a lower incidence of myocardial infarction. With control for gender, age, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, smoking habits, self-reported cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus, vital exhaustion almost tripled the risk of myocardial infarction. Assessment of vital exhaustion contributes to the identification of subjects at increased risk of myocardial infarction in general practice.

Key Words: stress • primary care

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