Mental health of cardiac patients in Gilgit, Pakistan: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To assess and compare mental health of cardiac patients with disease-free individuals. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Combined Military Hospital, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, from August to December 2016, and comprised cardiac patients in group A and healthy controls in group B. Data was collected using mental health inventory, a 38-item tool to measure general psychological distress and wellbeing. Cardiac patients' mental health was compared with illness-free individuals by applying descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 80 participants, 40(50%) were patients and the rest were controls. The mean mental health inventory score in group B was 150.72 +/- 19.94 compared to 140.35 +/- 22.83in group A (p<0.05). Cardiac patients' mean score on psychological distress was 82.4 +/- 14.85 compared to 75.87 +/- 15.34in controls (p<0.05). The mean level of anxiety was 31.75 +/- 8.01 and that of depression was 14.58 +/- 3.58 in patients compared to 26.70 +/- 6.74 (p<0.01) and 12.65 +/- 4.34 (p<0.05) in the controls. Conclusion: Cardiac patients experienced higher level of depression and anxiety.