Effect of interventions of psychological behavior on the treatment of arteriosclerosis with lovastatin

Aim: To observe the influence of mental behavior intervention in treating arteriosclerosis (AS) with lovastatin. Methods: A total of 64 patients, who had been diagnosed to have AS according to disease history, examination and by electrocardiograph, rheoencephalogram and skull CT etc. were selected. Patients with certain mental diseases and serious psychologic obstacles were excluded. The 64 patients were randomly divided into intervention group and control group, receiving lovastatin. In the intervention group, psychotherapy was accompanied with lovastatin; Eysenck personality inventory(EPQ), symptom checklist-90(SCL-90) and characteristic coping program were used as tools of evaluation. The questionnaire investigation and vascular biochemistry marker were measured before and 12 weeks after treatment respectively. Results: Differences from the results of mental scale test and vascular biochemistry marker in the two groups before the treatment had no significant meaning(P > 0.05); however, after the treatment, results of mental scale test and vascular biochemistry marker in the intervention group were significantly better than those in the control group(P < 0.05). In the intervention group, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (RDL-C) level [(1.14 ± 0.32) mmol/L] was increased as compared with that before treatment [(1.03 ± 0.20) mmol/L]; and indicated significant difference as compared with that of the control group after the treatment[ (1.10 ± 0.24) mmol/L] (P < 0.05 to 0.01). Conclusion: The intervention of psychological behavior has positively cooperative effect on the clinical treatment with lovastatin.