Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul 6;12(3):e15447.
doi: 10.2196/15447.

Perceived Need for Psychosocial Support After Aortic Dissection: Cross-Sectional Survey

Gunther Meinlschmidt  1   2   3 , Denis Berdajs  4 , Roger Moser-Starck  1 , Alexander Frick  1 , Sebastian Gross  1 , Ulrich Schurr  4 , Friedrich S Eckstein  4 , Sabina Hunziker  1   5 , Rainer Schaefert  1
Affiliations

Perceived Need for Psychosocial Support After Aortic Dissection: Cross-Sectional Survey

Gunther Meinlschmidt et al. J Particip Med. .

Abstract

Background: The gold standard management of aortic dissection, a life-threatening condition, includes multidisciplinary approaches. Although mental distress following aortic dissection is common, evidence-based psychosocial interventions for aortic dissection survivors are lacking.

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the perceived psychosocial needs of aortic dissection survivors by surveying patients, their relatives, and health professionals to inform the development of such interventions.

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey and collected responses from 41 participants (27 patients with aortic dissection, 8 relatives of patients with aortic dissection, and 6 health professionals) on key topics, types of interventions, best timing, anticipated success, and the intended effects and side effects of psychosocial interventions after aortic dissection.

Results: The principal intervention topics were "changes in everyday life" (28/41, 68%, 95% CI 54.5%-82.9%), "anxiety" (25/41, 61%, 95% CI 46.2%-76.2%), "uncertainty" (24/41, 59%, 95% CI 42.9%-73.2%), "tension/distress" (24/41, 59%, 95% CI 43.9%-73.8%), and "trust in the body" (21/41, 51%, 95% CI 35.9%-67.5%). The most commonly indicated intervention types were "family/relative therapy" (21/41, 51%, 95% CI 35%-65.9%) and "anxiety treatment" (21/41, 51%, 95% CI 35%-67.5%). The most recommended intervention timing was "during inpatient rehabilitation" (26/41, 63%, 95% CI 47.6%-77.5%) followed by "shortly after inpatient rehabilitation" (20/41, 49%, 95% CI 32.4%-65%). More than 95% (39/41) of respondents anticipated a benefit from psychosocial interventions following aortic dissection dissection, expecting a probable improvement in 68.6% (95% CI 61.4%-76.2%) of aortic dissection survivors, a worse outcome for 5% (95% CI 2.9%-7.9%), and that 6% (95% CI 1.8%-10.4%) would have negative side effects due to such interventions.

Conclusions: Our findings highlight a substantial need for psychosocial interventions in aortic dissection survivors and indicate that such interventions would be a success. They provide a basis for the development and evaluation of interventions as part of state-of-the-art aortic dissection management.

Keywords: aortic dissection; patient involvement; psychosocial support; psychosomatic; psychotherapy; treatment need.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of subjects mentioning a certain concern or topic of interest to aortic dissection survivors to be addressed by psychosocial-psychotherapeutic interventions (mean and 95% CI). AOD: aortic dissection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency of subjects mentioning a certain type of psychosocial-psychotherapeutic intervention being of relevance to aortic dissection survivors (mean and 95% CI). AOD: aortic dissection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Frequency of subjects proposing a certain time as appropriate for psychosomatic or psychotherapeutic support after aortic dissection (mean and 95% CI). AOD: aortic dissection.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Frequency of subjects agreeing that patients would benefit from psychotherapeutic support after aortic dissection (mean and 95% CI). AOD: aortic dissection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Howard DPJ, Banerjee A, Fairhead JF, Perkins J, Silver LE, Rothwell PM, Oxford Vascular Study Population-based study of incidence and outcome of acute aortic dissection and premorbid risk factor control: 10-year results from the Oxford Vascular Study. Circulation. 2013 May 21;127(20):2031–7. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.000483. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/23599348 CIRCULATIONAHA.112.000483 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bossone E, LaBounty TM, Eagle KA. Acute aortic syndromes: diagnosis and management, an update. Eur Heart J. 2018 Mar 01;39(9):739–749d. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehx319.3904550 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nienaber CA, Clough RE, Sakalihasan N, Suzuki T, Gibbs R, Mussa F, Jenkins MP, Thompson MM, Evangelista A, Yeh JSM, Cheshire N, Rosendahl U, Pepper J. Aortic dissection. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016 Dec 25;2:16071. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2016.71.nrdp201671 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nienaber CA, Clough RE. Management of acute aortic dissection. Lancet. 2015 Feb 28;385(9970):800–11. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61005-9.S0140-6736(14)61005-9 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gawinecka J, Schönrath F, von Eckardstein A. Acute aortic dissection: pathogenesis, risk factors and diagnosis. Swiss Med Wkly. 2017;147:w14489. doi: 10.4414/smw.2017.14489. http://doi.emh.ch/10.4414/smw.2017.14489 smw-14489 - DOI - DOI - PubMed