Anxiety and Depression in Patients withCoronary Heart Disease: A Study in aTertiary Hospital

Anxiety and depression could reduce the quality of life, andexacerbate physical symptoms and even mortality amongst patientswith coronary heart disease (chd). the aim of this studywas to investigate the incidence of anxiety and depression inpatients with acute chd. in a period from march to december2008, the views of 108 chd patients, hospitalized in a tertiaryhospital, were solicited using hospital anxiety and depressionscale (hads) and sociodemographic questionnaires. patientswith chd had a low level anxiety and depression scores. therewas significant differences in the total hads score of participantsstratified for marital status (p=0.027) or co-morbidity ofdiseases (p=0.012). also, there were significant differences inthe scores of depression subscale stratified for marital status(p=0.021) or co-morbidity of disease (p=0.007). however,there was no significant difference between the total hadsscore or depression subscale score of the participants stratifiedbased on age, gender, race, education, or income. moreover,unmarried chd respondents possessed higher depression levelcompared to the married respondents, and chd respondentswith co-morbid diseases showed a high level of depression. thefindings might be taken as evidence to suggest that chd patientsshould be evaluated early for the detection of anxiety and depressionfor appropriate referral and support.