Open AccessANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN PATIENTS SUFFERING A MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Author(s) -
Márcia Moura Schmidt,
Amanda Bittencourt Lopes da Silva,
Samanta Fanfa Marques,
Cynthia Seelig
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
psychological applications and trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
ISSN - 2184-3414
DOI - 10.36315/2021inpact026
Subject(s) - anxiety , depression (economics) , medicine , myocardial infarction , population , mood , hospital anxiety and depression scale , psychiatry , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
"Introduction: Acute myocardial infarction is an experience that may cause severe emotional impact to the individual who presented it. The anxiety and depression felt is caused not only by the infarction episode itself, but also by the current uncertain state of the world during and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, something which can heighten these negative feelings throughout the entire population, especially in those considered to be in high risk groups. Objective: The objective of the present study is to estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depression among patients infarcted during the current coronavirus pandemic in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This study will compare clinical characteristics and risk factors between groups with and without anxiety and depression. Methods: Acute myocardial infarction patients who were submitted to percutaneous coronary intervention from February to June 2020 at a reference hospital in cardiology were considered eligible. The patients were interviewed via phone calls. The clinical characteristics and intra-hospital events were obtained from the hospital’s REDCap Database. The level of anxiety and depression suffered was evaluated utilizing the HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Patients considered as suffering from anxiety and depression were those who obtained scores for the possible and probable presence of those mood disorders. Patients were divided into groups with and without anxiety and depression. The categorical variables were expressed through frequency and percentage and analyzed by the Chi-square test and the continuous variables were described by average and standard deviation, and analyzed by Student's t-test. Results: A total of 55 patients were interviewed. The majority of these patients were male (74,5%) and white (80%). The average age of those participating in the study was 58 ±12 years, and the female participants were older than the males. The average number of years of education was 8 ± 4 years. The prevalence of anxiety was 38,2% and of depression 30,9%. Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety and depression was higher than those described in the literature for this population, which supports the hypothesis that the pandemic may be aggravating the patient’s emotional state. Another group will be interviewed for the control group."