Cardiovascular disease, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI), represents one of the main causes of death in Slovenia and the world. Experiencing an AMI can deeply affect the patient's psychological well-being and can manifest itself in higher stress levels, anxiety and depression. Such changes in psychological functioning can have negative consequences on the patient's health and can be a major obstacle in the proces of recovery after AMI. In the present work I therefore explored the connections between stress experienced by patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Additionally, I wanted to explore if and how stress, anxiety and depression affect recovery and progress after cardiac rehabilitation, specifically in quality of life and cardiorespiratory fitness measures.
Higher stress in patients who were included in cardiac rehabilitation after AMI was positively correlated with experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, higher stress, together with anxiety and depression, also negatively correlated with measures of patients' quality of life. However, higher stress, anxiety and depression did not predict patients' improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness. On the other hand, higher anxiety levels did predict worse improvement in patients' subjective assesments of general health. Together with higher stress levels, higher anxiety also predicted a bigger improvement in patients' physical quality of life. There were significant gender differences in the progress within the cardiac rehabilitation program, as men significantly improved their cardiorespiratory fitness and subjective general health, whereas women did not.
The present work offers an insight into the experience of stress, anxiety and depression that some patients go through after AMI and serves as a reminder of the complexity of the relationship between patients' psychological experience after AMI and their progress in cardiorespiratory fitness and quality of life after cardiac rehabilitation programs.
|