PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK FACTORS FOR CARDIAC/CORONARY HEART DISEASE

The present paper aims at reviewing the empirical work which links psychosocial factors with cardiac disease and was published between 1980 and 2010. The literature search was conducted systematically, on databases and was completed manually on the basis of reference lists. Finally, 59 scientific articles were selected and analyzed thematically in accordance to the aim of this review. The conclusion is that there is an extensive theoretical corpus that supports the association between psychosocial factors and coronary disease. This justifies the appearance for behavioral cardiology as the branch of psychology which studies these factors in relation to cardiac disease. This paper presents suggestions for future research in connection to these topics.