BACKGROUNDAnxiety appears to be more common in patients with coronary artery disease (CHD) than in the general population, and anxiety symptoms may precede onset of CHD and play an important role in development of CHD. Little is known about the prevalence of anxiety symptoms in Chinese patients with premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). Our objective was to study anxiety symptoms and potential risk factors in a Chinese population with PVCs but without structural heart disease.

METHODSThe Zung self-rating anxiety scale (ZSAS) was used to assess anxiety symptoms. Correlation between anxiety symptoms and socio-demographics and medical factors were analyzed by Logistic regression.

RESULTSOf 1144 patients with PVCs (487 males and 657 females), age (53 ± 23) years old, disease duration 1 month to 24 years, a total of 381 (33.3%) patients were categorized as having anxiety symptoms. Anxiety symptoms increased with age, low income, low education level, nationality, PVC count/24 hours, bad social support, village settlement type (P < 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression indicated that six variables-education level, ethnic minorities, dwelling place, age, PVC count/24 hours, and social support-significantly and independently related with anxiety symptoms (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIn the Chinese population, anxiety symptoms in subjects with PVCs were frequent. Education level, ethnic minorities, dwelling place, age, PVC count/24 hours, and social support were independent risk factors for anxiety symptoms. Further research on the relationship between PVCs and anxiety symptoms in China is necessary.