Effects of Depression and Anxiety Improvement on Adherence to Medication and Health Behaviors in Recently Hospitalized Cardiac Patients

Predictors of permanent work disability among ≤50-year-old patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

“…Patients in this study also had a noteworthy incidence (27.2% of patients on PWD) of psychiatric morbidity leading or contributing to PWD; psychiatric symptomatology, even if not directly leading to disability, causes poor adherence to medication (18,21), which in turn can affect outcomes and cardiac health entailing impaired working health. It has also been shown that improvement in depressive symptoms leads to better adherence to secondary prevention among cardiac patients (22,23). Serious mental illness itself is also a well described risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality but even less dramatic psychiatric morbidity such as depression incurs an elevated risk of cardiovascular events (24)(25)(26).…”

A Patient’s Guide to Living Confidently With Chronic Heart Failure

“…3 However, patients with CHF often increase their medical adherence once their depression is treated. 4 Depressive symptoms can look very similar to some heart failure symptoms, which include fatigue, trouble sleeping, loss of interest in activities, inability to concentrate, feelings of hopelessness, and change in appetite. Anxiety is also common in heart failure patients, which includes such symptoms as excessive worry, fear, dread, muscle tension, sweating, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and fatigue.…”

Psychological Aspects of Cardiac Care and Rehabilitation: Time to Wake Up to Sleep?

“…That the effect sizes for anxiety are lower than those for depression raises the possibility that for some cardiac patients, elevated anxiety may in fact be a stimulus for improving health behaviours. While depression has been consistently associated with non-adherence to recommended health behaviours, the evidence is mixed for anxiety [118,2], and higher anxiety levels have even been associated with a reduction in both mortality and cardiac events 5 years after coronary stenting [119].…”