Recent reports suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown resulted in changes in mental health, however, potential age-related changes and risk factors remain unknown. We measured COVID-19 lockdown-induced stress levels and the severity of depressive symptoms prior to and during the COVID-19 lockdown in different age groups and then searched for potential risk factors in a well-characterized general population-based sample. A total of 715 participants were tested for mental distress and related risk factors at two time-points, baseline testing prior to COVID-19 and follow-up testing during COVID-19, using a battery of validated psychological tests including the Perceived Stress Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire. Longitudinal measurements revealed that the prevalence of moderate to high stress and the severity of depressive symptoms increased 1.4- and 5.5-fold, respectively, during the COVID-19 lockdown. This surge in mental distress was more severe in women, but was present in all age groups with the older age group exhibiting, cross-sectionally, the lowest levels of mental distress prior to and during the lockdown. Illness perception, personality characteristics such as a feeling of loneliness, and several lifestyle components were found to be associated with a significant increase in mental distress. The observed changes in mental health and the identified potential risk factors underlying these changes provide critical data justifying timely and public emergency-tailored preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic mental health interventions, which should be integrated into future public health policies globally.

Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is associated with improvements in exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake (VO 2 peak)); however, 23% of CR patients do not improve VO 2 peak following CR. CR adherence (i.e. number of CR sessions attended) has been proposed to play an important role in VO 2 peak improvement following CR, but has not been investigated. Identifying clinical predictors of VO 2 peak improvement are critical as the degree of VO 2 peak improvement is associated with improved long-term outcomes in these patients. Purpose: To determine if clinical characteristics and number of CR sessions attended were predictive of patients who exhibited improvement in VO 2 peak following CR. Methods: Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project records-linkage system, we identified all consecutive patients >18 years old from Olmsted County, Minnesota who underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing prior to and following CR from 1999 to 2017. Regression models were created to assess clinical predictors of VO 2 peak improvement (>0% baseline) following CR. Results: The analysis included 804 patients (75% men) with a mean age of 60.7±12.4 years. Of the 804 patients, 609 (76%) patients exhibited VO 2 peak improvement following CR. Significant univariate predictors of VO 2 peak improvement included younger age (OR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.97-1.00), lower pre-CR VO 2 peak (OR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.94-0.99), history of peripheral artery disease (OR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.32-0.73), and smoking (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.45-0.90). Significant independent predictors of VO 2 peak improvement from a multivariate analysis included younger age (OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.96-1.00), number of CR sessions (OR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01-1.03), lower pre-CR VO 2 peak (OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91-0.96), history of peripheral artery disease (OR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.27-0.66), and smoking (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.39-0.82). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the importance of CR adherence and individual clinical characteristics in influencing VO 2 peak improvement following CR in patients with CVD. These findings may influence the clinical practice by providing specific clinical characteristics to account for when personalizing the CR treatment plan to maximize positive outcomes.

Introduction: The presence of chronic somatic and mental health conditions is complex and challenging for patients and the health care system due to the health deficit accumulation, worsening outcomes, and increased health care utilization. While previous studies on multimorbidity have focused on somatic chronic conditions, we aim to assess the relation between somatic, mental, and combined somatic-mental multimorbidity (SMM) and impact on Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE) in patients enrolled in phase II outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Methods: Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project records-linkage system, we identified patients from Olmsted County, Minnesota who were 18 years old and attended (≥1) CR sessions at Mayo Clinic Rochester. The prevalence of 18 (somatic=13; mental=5) chronic conditions defined by the US Department of Health and Human Services was ascertained electronically. Results: We included 618 patients; 24.4% were female. Patients were 61.5±11.0 years old with 38.0% ≥65 years old. Overall median number of chronic conditions was 6 (Range 0-13) with 98.8% of patients having ≥2 conditions. The prevalence of combined SMM was 44.6%. Mean follow-up was 7.3± 4.5 years, 147 (23.7%) patients had MACE (number): acute coronary syndrome (46), percutaneous coronary intervention (33), heart failure (16), stroke (8), coronary artery bypass grafting (4), ventricular arrhythmias (4), or death (65). Risk of MACE in patients with SMM was significantly higher compared to patients with only somatic conditions (HR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.14-2.30, p=0.01 ), Figure 1. The association remained significant after adjustment for age and sex ( p=0.006 ). Conclusions: Our results show that somatic-mental multimorbidity (SMM) in CR patients is highly prevalent and imposes a higher risk of MACE compared with patients who have only somatic conditions highlighting the importance of individualized assessment and care plans to reduce adverse events and mortality.