Health complaints and outcome assessment in coronary heart disease.

Research on coronary heart disease (CHD) lacks sensitive outcome measures. Health complaints, although subjective in nature, may provide information on the degree of recovery from CHD. The purpose of Study 1 was to identify common health complaints in a group of 535 men (mean age, 57.5 years) with CHD. In the weeks after a coronary event, they frequently reported somatic (e.g., chest pain, dyspnea, fatigue, sleep problems) and cognitive (e.g., concern about health and functional status) health complaints. Statistical analyses produced the Health Complaints Scale (HCS), which comprises 12 somatic and 12 cognitive complaints. Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for the model undergirding the HCS, and the somatic and cognitive scales of the HCS were found to have high internal consistency (alpha > or = .89), adequate test-retest reliability (r > or = .69), and good construct validity. Study 2 provided evidence for the idea that the HCS can be distinguished from standard scales of psychopathology. Statistical analyses in 266 men with CHD indicated that, compared to symptoms of psychopathology, the HCS scales displayed discrete factor loadings as well as higher scores at baseline and a normal clustering of scores. Important to note, HCS scores decreased in 60 subjects participating in cardiac rehabilitation (p < .0001) but not in 60 control subjects. Although research should not disregard psychological biases on symptom reporting, it is argued that health complaints need to be accurately assessed in CHD patients.