Type D personality, levels of depression and anxiety, and disease acceptance in cardiac patients

Introduction and objective: To assess the relationship between type D personality and the severity of symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as disease acceptance in cardiac patients. Materials and methods: The study involved 102 participants (63 men and 39 women). The patients were divided according to the presence of type D personality (group 0 – without, group 1 – with type D), gender (group 0 – men, group 1 – women), and cardiac diagnoses (group 1 – with ischaemic heart disease, group 2 – with ischaemic heart disease and circulatory failure). The Type D Scale-14 (DS-14) was used to assess type D personality; the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess symptoms of anxiety and depression; and the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) was used to examine disease acceptance. The author’s questionnaire was used to collect the necessary sociodemographic data. Results: 36% of respondents meet the criteria for type D personality. AIS scores correlated negatively with age and disease duration, both components of the DS-14 scale. Both DS-14 subscales were negatively correlated with AIS and positively correlated with HADS-A and HADS-D, while DS-14 (Ne) was positively correlated with age. Individuals without type D personality traits had higher scores on the AIS and lower scores on the HADS-A and HADS-D. However, in the social inhibition subscale, women scored higher. Conclusions: Individuals with type D personality have more difficulty accepting their illness and are characterised by higher levels of depression and anxiety. Women exhibit stronger social inhibition. Younger individuals, with a shorter history of illness, accept the disease more easily.