Authors : Seyed Hamze Hoseini and Sasan Tabiban
Abstract: High incidence of Myocardial Infarction (MI) and decreasing age of its occurrence urge to identify complications and factors increasing the mortality due to MI. One of these complications is depression after MI, which causes mortality and morbidity independent to other risk factors and severity of MI. The purpose of this study was determining the prevalence of depressive symptoms and related causes in patients with the first episode of MI. This study was undertaken on 150 patients with the first episode of MI, 48 h after the event. The patients completed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) two and six days after the cardiac attack. Exclusion criteria were pervious psychiatric history in patients and/or families and debilitating diseases in patients. The related factors were age, gender, type of infarction and Q waves in ECG. Data analysis was carried out using 2 test. In this study, the incidence of depressive symptoms was 60.7%, 48 h after MI. 22.7% was mild, 26% moderate and 12% severe. After 6 days, the overall incidence of depressive symptoms was 72%; 22% mild, 32% moderate and 18% severe respectively. The initial severity and persistence of the symptoms were more in women than men at 6 days after MI. Considering the high incidence of depressive symptoms after MI, assessment and psychiatric consultation are recommended.
Seyed Hamze Hoseini and Sasan Tabiban , 2008. Evaluation of the Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Related Factors Following Initial Myocardial Infarction . Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 3: 10-12.