Evaluation of anxiety and depression levels in patients with myocardial infarction

Objectives: Patients with myocardial infarction (MI) may experience anxiety and depression. This study was designed to determine anxiety and depression levels in patients with MI.
Study design: The study included 506 patients (199 women, 307 men; mean age 55.7±6.9 years) who were admitted to the cardiology department for MI. Data were collected using a questionnaire to identify patient characteristics and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The HADS has been validated as a sensitive screening tool for anxiety and depression in MI patients in the Turkish population.
Results: Clinically severe anxiety was found in all the patients (100%). Depression scores showed a clinically normal level in 45 patients (8.9%), borderline level in 289 patients (57.1%), and severe level in 172 patients (34%). The mean HADS score was 11.4±2.9, being 12.2±4.1 and 10.6±4.1 for anxiety and depression, respectively. Among patient characteristics, age was significantly associated with both anxiety and depression subscales (p<0.001), and education level (p<0.05), total family income (p<0.01), health insurance (p<0.05), and the number of myocardial infarctions (p<0.05) were significantly associated with the depression subscale. In regression analysis, age (β=-0.128), education level (β=0.082), and working status (β=-0.79) independently affected both anxiety and depression, and total family income (β=-0.128) and health insurance (β=-0.086) significantly affected depression.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that planning nursing interventions to decrease anxiety and depression levels and implementation of cardiac rehabilitation programs are of particular importance in patients with MI.

Keywords: Anxiety, depression, myocardial infarction/psychology, psychiatric status rating scales; questionnaires.