Systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological intervention on patients with coronary heart disease.

Background: Coronary heart disease is both a physical and mental disease, so psychological intervention can be used as part of a general cardiac rehabilitation plan. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of psychological intervention on the negative psychology of patients with coronary heart disease.

Methods: Multiple databases like PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were used to search for the relevant studies, and full-text articles involved in the evaluation of psychological intervention versus usual care for patients with coronary heart disease. Review Manager 5.4 (The Cochrane Collaboration, Software Update, Oxford, 2020) was adopted to estimate the effects of the results among selected articles. Forest plots, sensitivity analysis, and bias analysis were also performed on the included articles.

Results: There were 17 studies that eventually met the final inclusion criteria. There were significant differences in anxiety level [mean difference (MD) -4.53; 95% confidence interval (CI), -6.36 to -2.7; P<0.00001; I2=96%], depression level (MD-3.43; 95% CI, -4.85 to -2.01; P<0.00001; I2=96%), and stress level (MD -4.19; 95% CI, -6.86 to -1.52; P<0.00001; I2=94%), but no difference was found for total mortality (P=0.50).

Conclusions: This study indicated that psychological intervention has important health benefits for patients with coronary heart disease and can effectively reduce negative psychological effects such as depression, anxiety, and stress. However, the results need to be further confirmed due to the limitations.