A course of coronary heart disease and quality of life in patients with varying depressivestates

Abstract

Aim. To study a course of coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with depressive disorders. Material and methods. The trial included 77 CHD patients aged 39 to 68 years (mean age 54.9 + 0.9 years), 40 (51,9%) of them had myocardial infarction. All the examinees had effort angina of functional class II-IV by criteria of the Canadian Cardiology Association. All the patients have undergone standard clinical examination, stress tests, coronaroangiography (n = 30), assessment of the degree of vegetative dystonia and quality of life. The patients were divided into two groups depending on the depression degree. Results. CHD patients with manifest depression vs those with subclinical depression had a higher level of personality and reactive anxiety. They had neurotic and psychopathological personality alterations associated with more pronounced vegetative disorders. These patients suffered from more severe coronary atherosclerosis, more hospitalizations for the previous year, more myocardial infarctions, lower physical activity and quality of life. Conclusion. CHD patients with manifest depression have lower physical performance and quality of life though this is not confirmed at exercise tests.

Keywords

• coronary heart disease
• depression
• psychovegetative status
• quality of life