Abstract

Aim: This study investigated the relationship between kinesiophobia, cardiac anxiety, and dyspnea symptoms in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 84 patients at a tertiary care facility over a 15-month period from December 2023 to March 2025. The study population included adult patients (≥18 years) who underwent elective CABG and remained hospitalized for 3 to 5 days postoperatively. Data were collected using the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) and the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK), alongside demographic and clinical assessments of pain, fatigue, and dyspnea.

Results: Data analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between kinesiophobia and cardiac anxiety (r=0.602, p=0.01), suggesting that these psychological barriers frequently coexist post-surgery. Participants with higher levels of kinesiophobia exhibited significantly higher cardiac anxiety. However, kinesiophobia was not correlated with pain (r=0.161, p=0.142) or dyspnea (r=-0.010, p=0.924). Regression modeling demonstrated that cardiac anxiety was the sole independent predictor of kinesiophobia, accounting for 23% of the total variance (p=0.001). Other variables, including age, weight, smoking status, and dyspnea, were not significant predictors.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that cardiac anxiety is a primary driver of kinesiophobia following cardiac surgery. These results underscore the necessity for healthcare providers to conduct multidisciplinary assessments of physical, mental, and respiratory status during cardiac rehabilitation to optimize patient outcomes.

Keywords: anxiety disorders, dyspnea, fear, pain, psychological distress

Copyright and license

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open-access article published by Bolu İzzet Baysal Training and Research Hospital under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Konuk S, Özel A, Uğraş UA, Özdede EA, Uçaroğlu ER, Karaarslan T. The relationship between respiratory symptoms and psychological state: a perspective on kinesiophobia and cardiac anxiety. Northwestern Med J. 2026;6(2):116-21. https://doi.org/10.54307/2026.NWMJ.192

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