Rehabilitation status three months after first-time myocardial infarction

Abstract

Objective. To describe the rehabilitation status three months after first-time myocardial infarction (MI) to identify focus areas for long-term cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in general practice. Design. Population-based cross-sectional study. Setting and subjects. Patients with first-time MI in 2009 from the Central Denmark Region. Data were obtained from patient questionnaires and from registers. Results. Of the 1288 eligible patients, 908 (70.5%) responded. The mean (SD) age was 67.1 (11.7) years and 626 (68.9%) were men. Overall, 287 (31.6%) of the patients lived alone and 398 (45.4%) had less than 10 years of education. Upwards of half (58.5%) of the patients stated that they had participated in hospital-based rehabilitation shortly after admission. A total of 262 (29.2%) were identified with anxiety or depressive disorder or both, according to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Of these, 78 (29.8%) reported that they had participated in psychosocial support, and 55 (21.0%) used antidepressants. One in five patients smoked three months after MI although nearly half of the smokers had stopped after the MI. Regarding cardioprotective drugs, 714 (78.6%) used aspirin, 694 (76.4%) clopidogrel, 756 (83.3%) statins, and 735 (81.0%) beta-blockers. Conclusion. After three months, there is a considerable potential for further rehabilitation of MI patients. In particular, the long-term CR should focus on mental health, smoking cessation, and cardioprotective drugs.

Key Words::

• Depression
• drug therapy
• family practice
• myocardial infarction
• rehabilitation
• smoking

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the respondents for their participation and the hospital departments for their willingness in sending us the discharge letters. This work was conducted as part of a project funded by the Tryg Foundation, the Danish Health Insurance Foundation, the Foundation of Master Cabinetmaker Sophus and Astrid Jacobsen, the Danish Heart Foundation, Merck Sharp and Dohme, the Danish Foundation of Development for General Practitioners, the Danish Medical Association, and A.V. Lykfeldt's Grant.

Conflict of interest

None.