[Depressive symptoms after an acute myocardial infarction]

Depression after myocardial infarction (MI) is a frequent disorder and it increases the long-term risk of cardiac mortality.

To assess the frequency of depressive symptoms and the history of depression in hospitalized post-MI patients.

During three months, depressive symptoms and history of depression were studied in 47 consecutive patients (mean age 59.8+/-9.5 years, 68% male), admitted for MI to the Barros Luco Trudeau Hospital. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 2.1) were used with DSM-IV diagnosis criteria.

According to the results obtained using the CIDI, 27,7% of the patients had a history of depression. This occurred in 53,3% of women and 15,6% of men (p <0.01). During the hospitalization, 38.3% of patients had depressive symptoms (BDI > or =17 points), affecting 60% of women and 28,1% of men (p <0.02). In women and patients with history of depression, depressive symptoms tended to be more common and more severe.

Depressive symptoms in post-MI patients are frequent and attending physicians should actively detect them.