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Association of social support during emergency department evaluation for acute coronary syndrome with subsequent posttraumatic stress symptoms

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Abstract

We examined the associations of different aspects of social support during emergency department (ED) evaluation for an acute cardiac event with perceptions of threat in the ED and subsequent posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) in 484 patients. Participants were enrolled in the ED where they reported on their perceptions of threat in the ED. Social support in the ED and PSS were assessed at inpatient bedside or by telephone a median of 3 days later. Positive aspects of social support were not associated with subsequent PSS. Anxiety-provoking social support was significantly associated with increased PSS at follow-up. Greater ED threat perception partially mediated that relationship.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants HL117832, HL123368, and HL128310 from NIH/NHLBI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia University Medical Center, 622 West 168 Street, PH9-317, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Kirsten Homma, Barvina Toledo, Brooke Hefele, Nathan Dalrymple & Donald Edmondson

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Bernard Chang

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA

    Jonathan Shaffer

Authors
  1. Kirsten Homma
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  2. Bernard Chang
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  3. Jonathan Shaffer
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  4. Barvina Toledo
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  6. Nathan Dalrymple
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  7. Donald Edmondson
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Correspondence to Donald Edmondson.

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Conflict of interest

Kirsten Homma, Bernard Chang, Jonathan Shaffer, Barvina Toledo, Brooke Hefele, Nathan Dalrymple and Donald Edmondson declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Homma, K., Chang, B., Shaffer, J. et al. Association of social support during emergency department evaluation for acute coronary syndrome with subsequent posttraumatic stress symptoms. J Behav Med 39, 823–831 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9748-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9748-4

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