The effect of cognitive - behavioral intervention therapy on anxiety of cardiovascular patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis study

Cognitive-behavioral interventions are one of the various methods of reducing anxiety in cardiovascular patients. The present systematic and meta-analysis review study was conducted to determine the effect of cognitive behavioral intervention on anxiety in cardiovascular patients.

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on Iranian English and Persian studies into cognitive behavioral intervention on anxiety in cardiovascular patients published between 2000 and 2018. An online search to find studies published in databases of PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane, Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database and Magiran. Search key terms were “Heart Disease”, “Cognitive Behavior Therapy”, “anxiety” and as well as their equivalents in the Medical Subject Headings and “Iran”. From 42 studies in the primary search, 4 eligible articles were included in the meta-analysis. Modified Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist was used for quality appraisal. The mean and standard deviation of anxiety of patients based on the Beck Inventory were extracted from the selected studies. data were analyzed using the Review Manager software.

As a result of the combination of studies, the mean of anxiety among cardiovascular patients after cognitive-behavioral intervention showed a significant decrease of 8.73 units with 95% confidence interval (-11.36- -6.10) and this variable in interventional group compared to the control group showed a significant decrease of 7.35 units with 95% confidence interval (-9.71- -4.99).

It seems that "Cognitive-behavioral intervention therapy" to be effective in reducing anxiety in cardiovascular patients and may be used as a complementary treatment along with medication for these patients.