PROFILE OF MOOD STATES AND CARDIAC REHABILITATION AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

Following an acute myocardial infarction, evaluation of a patient's ow n perceptions of health, including mood state, provides useful informa tion about the efficacy of rehabilitation when data are available for patients randomized to both control and intervention. Data are present ed on the profile of Mood States (POMS) in 187 patients, with mild to moderate scores for Spielberger state anxiety and/or Beck depression, who were randomized within 6 wk of acute myocardial infarction to usua l care or to brief cardiac rehabilitation lasting 8 wk and who were fo llowed-up during the 12 months following the acute event. Repeated mea sures multivariate analysis of covariance identified significant main as well. as time effects in POMS scores over 12 months. Repeated measu res analysis of variance over the 12 months demonstrated significant i mprovement for both depression and anxiety in both groups. At 8 wk imp rovement was greater in the rehabilitation patients than usual care pa tients but only in the tension-anxiety, depression-dejection and vigor -activity dimensions of POMS and only in anxiety in those patients wit h above mean anxiety scores. Overall, rehabilitation and control patie nts showed similar and significant improvements in anxiety, depression and in mood states over the duration of the 12-month trial.