Background:
The past decade has seen a growing body of evidence to support independent links between depression and coronary heart disease. Despite this evidence, depression is rarely assessed in cardiac rehabilitation programs and there are few published studies of psychological interventions for depression with this population. The aim of the present evaluation was to first determine levels of depression and anxiety symptoms among cardiac rehabilitation patients in John Hunter Hospital (JHH), Newcastle, and second to link those scores with demographic, lifestyle and medical variables. Additionally, it was aimed to evaluate a group cognitive behaviour therapy intervention (BraveHeart), specialized for treatment of depression in people with cardiac disease.
Methods and Results:
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale is being used to screen cardiac r ehabilitation patients at JHH at week 4 of their program. Over 650 patients have been screened with this tool, with results suggesting that around a third are experiencing significant levels of anxiety and/ or depression. These scores have been linked with available patient information kept on an epidemio-logical database, the Heart and Stroke Register, to determine the characteristics and medical outcome of those with high vs. low symptom scores. A randomized controlled trial of BraveHeart has commenced and preliminary data from the study will be presented.
Conclusions:
Results from screening support prior research suggesting that significant levels of emotional distress exist among cardiac rehabilitation participants. Depression is known to lead to worse outcomes among this patient population, and development of efficacious psychological treatments is indicated.
