Depression at the early phase of first myocardial infarction

Objective: To assess clinical depression and severity of depression symptoms early after a first acute myocardial infarction (MI). Methods: Data was collected with a structured questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The questionnaire was applied to the 100 patients, who had suffered from first MI, after they were transferred to the ward from the coronary intensive care unit. Results: The mean age of the patients was 58.4 +/- 9.9 years, of whom 86.0% were male and 95.0% were married. The mean education duration was 4.6 +/- 4.1 years; the rate of illiterate and literate patients was 34.0% and the rate of patients graduated from primary school was 42.0%. Forty-seven percent of patients had a previous concomitant physical disease. Forty-three percent patients obtained a BDI score lower than 10, while 31.0% had a score of >= 17. A positive significant, but weak correlation was observed between BDI scores and age. The rate of patients with clinical depression (BDI score >= 17) was significantly higher in females as compared to males (64.3% and 25.6%, respectively, p<0.05). Conclusions: The diagnosis of post-MI depression may be difficult because of the non-specific complaints. Female gender was found to be a significant independent variable predicting the presence of depression symptoms and severity during the post-MI period. It would be beneficial to routinely investigate the presence and intensity of depression symptoms after MI. (Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2012; 13:179-183)