Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Severity and Cardiac Rehabilitation Utilization Following Myocardial Infarction

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Psychiatry
• Public Health

Background:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is linked to poor health behaviors and increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
• PTSD may negatively impact recovery from cardiovascular events like myocardial infarction (MI).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if PTSD severity influences the use of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in veterans post-MI or revascularization.
• To determine if PTSD severity affects the likelihood of engaging in sufficient CR sessions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Veterans Health Administration data for 5170 patients with PTSD diagnoses.
• Employed modified Poisson models to assess the association between PTSD severity and CR utilization within 12 months of MI/revascularization.
• Examined the relationship between PTSD severity and attending 9 or more CR sessions.

Main Results:

• Only 8% of the veteran sample utilized any CR within 12 months post-event.
• Among CR users, 66% attended 9 or more sessions.
• PTSD severity was not significantly associated with any CR use or with attending ≥9 sessions.

Conclusions:

• Cardiac rehabilitation participation was low across all levels of PTSD severity in this veteran cohort.
• Higher PTSD severity does not appear to be a barrier to CR use.
• Strategies to increase CR engagement among veterans post-MI/revascularization are crucial for reducing adverse cardiovascular outcomes.