Survey on the Efficacy of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs on Anxiety and Depression Control in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients (Short Report)

Cardiovascular diseases are usually associated with high rates of mortality and morbidities, lack of self-reliance, and depression and anxiety for the patients and their families. Cardiac rehabilitation program is a well-established program which may lead to relieving depression and anxiety. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of cardiac rehabilitation programs on depression and anxiety control in patients who had undergone Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Iran. This study was performed on 60 patients selected by non -probability sampling method (46 male and 14 female) after undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale and demographic questionnaire were instruments for collecting data in the present study. Patients participated in 12-week cardiac rehabilitation programs consisted of two hourly sessions per week in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Hamedan. SPSS software version 16.0 was used for analysis of the data. Differences in the scores of depression and anxiety before and after cardiac rehabilitation programs were tested using paired t test. All P-values were considered significant at level 0.05. Significant reductions were observed in depression and anxiety after 12 weeks of Rehabilitation (p=0.001). No significant differences was found between men and women in terms of anxiety and depression after this period. The results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between levels of education, marital status with anxiety and depression between men and women. These findings suggest that cardiac rehabilitation may be an effective intervention for releiving depression and anxiety after CABG.