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Benson Mark Hoffman

Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Adult Psychiatry & Psychology
Box 3119 Med Ctr, Durham, NC
4569 CRII, Durham, NC

Selected Publications


Exercise and Escitalopram in the Treatment of Anxiety in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: One Year Follow-Up of the UNWIND Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal Article J Cardiovasc Dev Dis · September 22, 2022 Anxiety is common among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and is associated with a worse prognosis. UNWIND was a 12-week randomized clinical trial comparing exercise and escitalopram to placebo on measures of anxiety, depression, and CHD biomarker ... Full text Link to item Cite

Longer term benefits of exercise and escitalopram in the treatment of anxiety in patients with coronary heart disease: Six month follow-up of the UNWIND randomized clinical trial.

Journal Article Am Heart J · September 2022 BACKGROUND: Anxiety is a common comorbidity in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and is associated with worse prognosis. However, effective treatment for anxiety in CHD patients is uncertain. The UNWIND randomized clinical trial showed that 12-wee ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of Exercise, Escitalopram, or Placebo on Anxiety in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease: The Understanding the Benefits of Exercise and Escitalopram in Anxious Patients With Coronary Heart Disease (UNWIND) Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal Article JAMA Psychiatry · November 1, 2021 IMPORTANCE: Anxiety is common among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and is associated with worse health outcomes; however, effective treatment for anxiety in patients with CHD is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether exercise and escitalopr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of Acute Exercise on Anxiety Ratings in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease and Elevated Anxiety.

Journal Article J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev · July 1, 2021 PURPOSE: To explore individual differences in state anxiety following a single, acute bout of aerobic exercise among anxious patients with diagnosed coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: One hundred eighteen CHD patients with elevated symptoms of anxiety ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of comorbid anxiety in exercise and depression trials: Secondary analysis of the SMILE-II randomized clinical trial.

Journal Article Depress Anxiety · February 2021 OBJECTIVES: To explore the anxiolytic effects of a 4-month randomized, placebo-controlled trial of exercise and antidepressant medication in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and to examine the potential modifying effects of anxiety in treatin ... Full text Link to item Cite

The modifying effects of social support on psychological outcomes in patients with heart failure.

Journal Article Health Psychol · June 2019 OBJECTIVE: We examined the modifying effects of social support on depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life (QoL) in patients receiving coping skills training (CST). METHOD: We considered the modifying effects of social support in the Coping E ... Full text Link to item Cite

Psychosocial aspects of kidney transplantation and living kidney donation

Chapter · January 1, 2019 Kidney transplant patients face an arduous transplant journey. Prior to transplant, many individuals experience dialysis-related fatigue, increased sarcopenia, and cardiovascular disease, which worsen quality of life (QoL) and increase the risk of depressi ... Full text Cite

Microvascular Endothelial Function and Neurocognition Among Adults With Major Depressive Disorder.

Journal Article Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · October 2018 BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and endothelial dysfunction have been associated independently with poorer neurocognition in middle-aged adults, particularly on tests of frontal lobe function. However, to our knowledge, no studies have exam ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depression, social support, and clinical outcomes following lung transplantation: a single-center cohort study.

Journal Article Transpl Int · May 2018 Depressive symptoms are common among lung transplant candidates and have been associated with poorer clinical outcomes in some studies. Previous studies have been plagued by methodologic problems, including small sample sizes, few clinical events, and unco ... Full text Link to item Cite

Neurological Sequelae and Clinical Outcomes After Lung Transplantation.

Journal Article Transplant Direct · April 2018 BACKGROUND: Neurological complications are common after lung transplantation. However, no large cohort studies have examined the incidence, predictors, and clinical significance of neurological events sustained by lung transplant recipients. METHODS: We co ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction and mortality following lung transplantation.

Journal Article Am J Transplant · March 2018 Preliminary evidence suggests that postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is common after lung transplantation. The impact of POCD on clinical outcomes has yet to be studied. The association between POCD and longer-term survival was therefore examined ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multimedia Education Reduces Anxiety in Lung Transplant Patients.

Journal Article Prog Transplant · March 2018 CONTEXT: A significant contribution to the success of lung transplantation is the recipient's ability to self-manage a multidrug regimen and follow complex instructions. Effective education has always been an integral component of the process of preparing ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depressive symptoms and early mortality following lung transplantation: A pilot study.

Journal Article Clin Transplant · February 2017 BACKGROUND: Impaired psychological function is common among lung transplant candidates and may affect clinical outcomes following transplantation. Although numerous studies have examined the relationship between pretransplant depression, quality of life (Q ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of Coping Skills Training on Quality of Life, Disease Biomarkers, and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal Article Circ Heart Fail · January 2017 BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease that compromises patients' quality of life (QoL). Interventions designed to reduce distress and improve disease self-management are needed. We evaluated the efficacy of a telephone-based coping skills tra ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of Exercise and Sertraline on Measures of Coronary Heart Disease Risk in Patients With Major Depression: Results From the SMILE-II Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · June 2016 OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of supervised and home-based aerobic exercise training, and antidepressant pharmacotherapy (sertraline) on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors in a sample of participants with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Treatment of anxiety in patients with coronary heart disease: Rationale and design of the UNderstanding the benefits of exercise and escitalopram in anxious patients WIth coroNary heart Disease (UNWIND) randomized clinical trial.

Journal Article Am Heart J · June 2016 BACKGROUND: Anxiety is highly prevalent among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), and there is growing evidence that high levels of anxiety are associated with worse prognosis. However, few studies have evaluated the efficacy of treating anxiety in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reduced Cerebral Perfusion Pressure during Lung Transplant Surgery Is Associated with Risk, Duration, and Severity of Postoperative Delirium.

Journal Article Ann Am Thorac Soc · February 2016 RATIONALE: Delirium is common following lung transplant and is associated with poorer clinical outcomes. The extent to which intraoperative hemodynamic alterations may contribute to postoperative delirium among lung transplant recipients has not been exami ... Full text Link to item Cite

Psychosocial Predictors of Mortality Following Lung Transplantation.

Journal Article Am J Transplant · January 2016 Lung transplantation has become an increasingly common treatment for patients with end-stage lung disease. Few studies have examined psychosocial risk factors for mortality in transplant recipients, despite evidence suggesting that elevated levels of negat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exercise as Treatment for Anxiety: Systematic Review and Analysis.

Journal Article Ann Behav Med · August 2015 BACKGROUND: Exercise has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety, but few studies have studied exercise in individuals preselected because of their high anxiety. PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to review and critically evaluate studies of exercise ... Full text Link to item Cite

Development and psychometric properties of the Pulmonary-specific Quality-of-Life Scale in lung transplant patients.

Journal Article J Heart Lung Transplant · August 2015 BACKGROUND: The Pulmonary-specific Quality-of-Life Scale (PQLS) was developed to measure quality of life (QoL) among patients awaiting lung transplant. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the PQLS, identify empirical ... Full text Link to item Cite

Neurobehavioral functioning and survival following lung transplantation.

Journal Article Chest · March 1, 2014 BACKGROUND: Neurobehavioral functioning is widely recognized as being an important consideration in lung transplant candidates, but little is known about whether these factors are related to clinical outcomes. The present study examined the relationship of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of sleep complaints and depression outcomes among participants in the standard medical intervention and long-term exercise study of exercise and pharmacotherapy for depression.

Journal Article J Nerv Ment Dis · February 2014 The aim of this study was to examine the effects of exercise and sertraline on disordered sleep in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods The Standard Medical Intervention and Long-term Exercise study randomized the patients with MDD (n = 2 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Biobehavioral interventions in heart failure

Chapter · January 1, 2014 Heart failure (HF) is a medical condition in which the heart loses its ability to pump blood efficiently. This chapter focuses on HF caused due to systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle, which is the most common and widely studied type of HF. It begins ... Full text Cite

Exercise and pharmacological treatment of depressive symptoms in patients with coronary heart disease: results from the UPBEAT (Understanding the Prognostic Benefits of Exercise and Antidepressant Therapy) study.

Journal Article J Am Coll Cardiol · September 18, 2012 OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of exercise and antidepressant medication in reducing depressive symptoms and improving cardiovascular biomarkers in depressed patients with coronary heart disease. BACKGROUND: Although there is ... Full text Link to item Cite

Changes in neurocognitive functioning following lung transplantation.

Journal Article Am J Transplant · September 2012 Although neurocognitive impairment is relatively common among patients with advanced lung disease, little is known regarding changes in neurocognition following lung transplantation. We therefore administered 10 tests of neurocognitive functioning before a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Is Exercise a Viable Treatment for Depression?

Journal Article ACSMs Health Fit J · July 2012 Depression is a common disorder that is associated with compromised quality of life, increased health care costs, and greater risk for a variety of medical conditions, particularly coronary heart disease. This review examines methods for assessing depressi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Stress and coping in caregivers of patients awaiting solid organ transplantation.

Journal Article Clin Transplant · 2012 Caregivers for patients undergoing solid organ transplantation play an essential role in the process of transplantation. However, little is known about stress and coping among these caregivers. Six hundred and twenty-one primary caregivers of potential can ... Full text Link to item Cite

Coping effectively with heart failure (COPE-HF): design and rationale of a telephone-based coping skills intervention.

Journal Article J Card Fail · March 2011 BACKGROUND: Coping Effectively with Heart Failure (COPE-HF) is an ongoing randomized clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate if a coping skills training (CST) intervention will result in improved health status and quality of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exercise and pharmacotherapy in patients with major depression: one-year follow-up of the SMILE study.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2011 OBJECTIVE: To examine a 1-year follow-up of a 4-month, controlled clinical trial of exercise and antidepressant medication in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: In the original study, 202 sedentary adults with MDD were randomized to: a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Management of depression in patients with coronary heart disease: association, mechanisms, and treatment implications for depressed cardiac patients.

Journal Article Expert Opin Pharmacother · January 2011 IMPORTANCE OF THE FIELD: Coronary heart disease (CHD) and depression are two leading causes of death and disability in the United States and worldwide. Depression is especially common in cardiac patients, and there is growing evidence that depression is a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cerebrovascular risk factors and cerebral hyperintensities among middle-aged and older adults with major depression.

Journal Article Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · September 2010 OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between cerebral hyperintensities and cerebrovascular risk factors (CVRF) among middle-aged and older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Thirty patients (aged 55-77 years) with MDD and no history of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Personality differences between surgery residents, nonsurgery residents, and medical students.

Journal Article Surgery · August 2010 BACKGROUND: The Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality may provide a useful framework to understand performance-related issues in academic medical settings. We examined the distribution of FFM personality traits among surgery residents compared with medici ... Full text Link to item Cite

Aerobic exercise and neurocognitive performance: a meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · April 2010 OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of aerobic exercise training on neurocognitive performance. Although the effects of exercise on neurocognition have been the subject of several previous reviews and meta-analyses, they have been hampered by methodological ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Cardiovascular disease risk, vascular health and erectile dysfunction among middle-aged, clinically depressed men.

Journal Article Int J Impot Res · 2010 Erectile dysfunction (ED) is especially common in men with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study examined the extent to which risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and vascular endothelial dysfunction were associated with ED severity in MDD p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prognosis after change in left ventricular ejection fraction during mental stress testing in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · January 1, 2010 Previous studies of patients with stable coronary artery disease have demonstrated that decreases in the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) during acute mental stress are predictive of adverse clinical outcomes. The aim of the present study was to e ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of aerobic exercise on sexual functioning in depressed adults

Journal Article Mental Health and Physical Activity · June 1, 2009 Objective: Exercise appears to be generally comparable to antidepressant medication in reducing depressive symptoms. The current study examines the effects of aerobic exercise, compared to antidepressant medication and placebo pill, on sexual function amon ... Full text Cite

Intima-media thickness and age of first depressive episode.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · March 2009 BACKGROUND: Late life depression, including patients with vascular depression, has been associated with higher levels of intima-media thickness (IMT). Although individuals with vascular depression tend to report a later onset of depression, the relationshi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Coping and quality of life in patients awaiting lung transplantation.

Journal Article J Psychosom Res · July 2008 OBJECTIVE: Patients with end-stage lung disease (ESLD) experience significant decrements in quality of life (QOL). Although coping strategies are related to QOL in patients with ESLD, the extent to which specific native lung disease moderates this relation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exercise fails to improve neurocognition in depressed middle-aged and older adults.

Journal Article Med Sci Sports Exerc · July 2008 PURPOSE: Although cross-sectional studies have demonstrated an association between higher levels of aerobic fitness and improved neurocognitive function, there have been relatively few interventional studies investigating this relationship, and results hav ... Full text Link to item Cite

Response to letters to the editor [3]

Journal Article Psychosomatic Medicine · February 1, 2008 Full text Cite

Exercise and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2007 OBJECTIVE: To assess whether patients receiving aerobic exercise training performed either at home or in a supervised group setting achieve reductions in depression comparable to standard antidepressant medication (sertraline) and greater reductions in dep ... Full text Link to item Cite

Understanding prognostic benefits of exercise and antidepressant therapy for persons with depression and heart disease: the UPBEAT study--rationale, design, and methodological issues.

Journal Article Clin Trials · 2007 BACKGROUND: Depression is relatively common in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and is associated with worse prognosis. Recently there has been interest in evaluating the impact of treating depression on clinical outcomes. Anti-depressant medicat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cerebrovascular risk factors, vascular disease, and neuropsychological outcomes in adults with major depression.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2007 OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship of cerebrovascular risk factors (CVRFs), endothelial function, carotid artery intima medial thickness (IMT), and neuropsychological performance in a sample of 198 middle-aged and older individuals with major depre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Meta-analysis of psychological interventions for chronic low back pain.

Journal Article Health Psychol · January 2007 The purpose of this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was to evaluate the efficacy of psychological interventions for adults with noncancerous chronic low back pain (CLBP). The authors updated and expanded upon prior meta-analyses by using broa ... Full text Link to item Cite

General and smoking cessation related weight concerns in veterans.

Journal Article Addict Behav · April 2006 This study sought to assess general and cessation related weight concerns in Veterans presenting for QuitSmart, a tobacco cessation program used extensively in the Veteran Affairs system. Assessed were prevalence rates of cessation related weight concerns, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Screening for distress in cancer patients: the NCCN rapid-screening measure.

Journal Article Psychooncology · November 2004 The present investigation evaluated the NCCN distress management screening measure (DMSM) in a sample of 68 mixed site cancer patients. The DMSM was administered with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18). Convergent ... Full text Link to item Cite

An individualized approach to managed mental health care in colleges and universities: A case study

Journal Article Journal of College Student Psychotherapy · July 13, 2001 College counseling centers continue to struggle with decisions about the number of sessions to allot to their clients. In this article we contrast a pre-assigned standard allotment of sessions with an idiographic approach that integrates case conceptualiza ... Full text Cite