Objective:

To determine the effects of a rehabilitation program on the anxiety and depression scores of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Materials and methods:

An analysis was performed on the information collected from a retrospective cohort of patients with cardiovascular disease, admitted to a cardiac rehabilitation program. Anxiety and depression were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and were classified according to the baseline treatment (medical or surgical) received. A comparison was made between the anxiety and depression scores on admission and at the end of the cardiac rehabilitation program using Wilcoxon test for paired samples and the McNemar test to evaluate the change in the percentages in each sub-scale.

Results:

A total of 1,221 patients were included. The median age was 61 years, and 68.3% were males. On admission, the median score was 3 on the anxiety and depression scale, with 141 (11.55%) patients having an anxiety disorder, and 67 (5.49%) with depressive disorder.

An improvement was observed in the anxiety and depression scores at the end of the end of the cardiac rehabilitation, both in patients on medical treatment (mean difference minus 1.87 points, 95% CI; -2.14 to -1.60: P<.01, and -1.46 points, 95% CI; -1.72 to -1.21: P<.01, for anxiety and depression, respectively) and on surgical treatment (mean difference -1.48 points, 95% CI; -1.78 to -1.18, P<.01 and -1.83 points, 95% CI -2.12 to -1.57, P<.01, respectively).

Conclusions:

The anxiety and depression scores in patients with cardiovascular disease on medical or surgical treatment improved after an integrated cardiac rehabilitation program.

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