Table 3.

Most distressing issues and concerns in rank order.

	Prevalence	Level of distress caused
		Moderate	Severe	Moderate or severe
Not having access to the health care I need	14.0	66.7	7.4	74.1
Being concerned about my capacity for sexual activity	22.0	47.6	16.7	64.3
Being unsupported by my friends or family	6.8	38.5	23.1	61.6
Being isolated from family and friends	15.3	44.8	13.8	58.6
Not knowing how my family will cope if something happens to me	42.9	39.0	18.3	57.3
Being unavailable to my family and friends	17.3	45.5	9.1	54.6
Not sleeping well	50.5	43.3	10.3	53.6
Having more pain than I expected to have	22.8	36.4	15.9	52.3
Having bad dreams and nightmares	24.0	23.9	28.3	52.2
Not being able to cope effectively with my heart condition	27.1	40.4	11.5	51.9
Lacking energy	60.3	36.0	15.8	51.8
Becoming a burden to my family	31.4	38.3	13.3	51.6
Not knowing what the future holds for me	40.3	42.9	7.8	50.7
Being unsure about how much exercise I should be doing	39.3	45.3	5.3	50.6
Being emotionally exhausted	33.3	42.9	6.3	49.2
Being unable to deal with stress	32.8	38.7	9.7	48.4
Being unable to do things that will improve my health	44.8	41.4	6.9	48.3
Being unable to plan for the future	24.9	39.6	8.3	47.9
Not being able to return to work or continue working	23.7	25.6	22.2	47.8
Thinking that I'm not the person I used to be	43.8	40.5	7.1	47.6
Not having anyone to talk to who understands my difficulties	17.9	35.3	11.8	47.1
Being afraid of dying	33.0	35.9	10.9	46.8
Feeling lonely	24.5	38.3	8.5	46.8
Lacking purpose and meaning in life	27.1	28.8	17.3	46.1
Having difficulty making decisions	25.0	4.2	4.2	45.9

N = 189–194 with variations due to incompletions in some questionnaires. Only 25 most distressing items shown.