Postacute Myocardial Infarction Differences in Physical Activity Behavior, Anxiety, and Depression Levels.

Background: There are limited studies regarding physical activity, anxiety, and depression levels among patients with postacute myocardial infarction (AMI). This is a need for more research on physical activity, anxiety, and depression levels based on the type of AMI following hospitalization to develop interventions to improve these outcomes.

Objective: To compare physical activity behavior, anxiety, and depression levels among patients with post-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and post-non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) not involved in cardiac rehabilitation program following hospitalization.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed with a convenience sample of 254 patients with post-AMI, 4 weeks after hospitalization. Participants, recruited from three hospitals in Jordan.

Results: The sample characteristics included the following: 140 males (54.3%), 120 married (47.2%), diagnosed with STEMI (n = 137, 53.1%) or NSTEMI (n = 117, 45.3%). And 41.3% of participants had moderate-to-severe anxiety level (General Anxiety Disorder-7 [GAD-7] > 10), while 22.0% had moderate to severe depression levels (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9] > 10). Post-STEMI and post-NSTEMI participants had moderate levels of anxiety, with 14.39 (3.45) versus 13.37 (3.51); and depression levels of 12.66 (3.28) versus 12.22 (3.54), respectively. There was no significant difference in depression level between patients with post-STEMI and post-NSTEMI, but the former had statistically significant higher anxiety level than the latter. The mean self-reported exercise duration and exercise frequency of patients with post-STEMI were significantly higher than for their post-NSTEMI counterparts: 151.7 (76.33) versus 87.78 (37.62) minutes per week, and 2.92 (1.44) versus 1.97 (0.88) times per week (respectively). Furthermore, patients with post-STEMI had less mean sedentary time: 582.92 (128.92) and 641.54 (147. 27) minutes per day ( > .05) (respectively).

Conclusions: Healthcare providers have to consider the differences in physical activity behavior, anxiety, depression levels based on types of AMI when developing interventions and establishing cardiac rehabilitation program to improve physical activity behavior and reducing sedentary time.