the comparison of attachment styles in people with and without coronary artery disease

Objectives: the present study compared attachment styles in patients with coronary artery disease (cad) and healthy controls (non-cad subjects). methods: this was a descriptive study with an ex-post facto design. the sample included 60 people (30 patients with cad and 30 healthy controls), attending the office of an interventional cardiologist in mashhad, selected by a convenience sampling method. they completed the adult attachment questionnaire. data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. results: the results of multivariate analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant difference in attachment styles be- tween cad patients and healthy controls so that healthy controls in the secure attachment style and cad patients in the insecure attachment styles had a higher score. conclusions: the findings confirm that attachment styles are more insecure in cad patients than in healthy people. these results suggest that insecure attachment styles increase the risk of coronary heart disease.