Connection between alexithymia and chronic diseases of the hearth and lungs

Abstract

Introduction. Alexithymia is manifested by limited abilities to identify and express emotions and is a possible risk factor for the onset and treatment of the disease. Objective. To determine the dependence of the presence of alexithymia in patients with chronic lung and heart diseases. Methodology and results. One hundred respondents aged 35 to 75 participated in the research, 50% of whom were being treated for chronic lung diseases, and 50% for chronic heart diseases. After filling out the Toronto Twenty-Point Scale (TAS-20) questionnaire, the degree of alexithymia was determined. Using the Chi-square test for independence, it was determined that the presence of alexithymia and chronic heart and lung diseases were dependent characteristics (p > 0.0005), and a significantly larger number of respondents with established alexithymia were treated for chronic lung diseases. Using the Chi-square test, it was shown that the presence of alexithymia and the gender of the subject were not dependent characteristics, while the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test of significance was used to analyze the dependence of alexithymia and the age of the subject. It demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference in the age of the subjects with and without alexithymia (p < 0.05). Conclusion. In this paper, we found that alexithymia is a more significant risk factor for the occurrence of chronic impairment of lung function in relation to heart disease.