Gender Differences in the Association of Cardiovascular Symptoms and Somatosensory Amplification to Mortality

Abstract

Symptoms of angina and dyspnea predict coronary artery disease and death less well in women than in men. Greater somatosensory amplification, a psychosocial propensity to report symptoms of physical discomfort, may lead women to report relatively high levels of angina and dyspnea for reasons unrelated to coronary disease, reducing their associations with mortality. We assessed this hypothesis in a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults. When stratified by gender, angina and dyspnea significantly predicted mortality among men but predicted it less well among women. After adjusting for amplification, cardiovascular symptoms did not predict mortality among women, but amplification was positively associated with mortality among older women.

Notes

The research reported in this article was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and by the National Institute on Aging (Grant P01 AG020166).