Background: A cardiac event is a major life event and is known to be associated with significant psychological distress in patients Poor psychological responses to a cardiac event are associated with poorer long term both psychological and physical outcomes This has been attributed to reduced adherence to cardiac rehabilitation recommendations [1] Waikato DHB (WDHB) runs exercise programmes consisting of 6, weekly 2hr classes with educational and exercise Components During classes, patients interact with each other and with cardiac rehabilitation nurses and can seek support We seek to discover whether classes improve psychological health post cardiac event Method: Patients undergoing the exercise programme at WDHB in 2019 were asked to complete a 42point DASS score at the beginning and end of a course The DASS score is a validated questionnaire of depression, anxiety and stress [2] Higher scores indicate worse psychological distress Results: 56 patients completed the initial questionnaire 24 patients (43%) had scores suggestive of &gt;mild psychological distress Of these 24 patients, 16 completed both initial and final DASS questionnaires Individual DASS scores changed -30 9% Overall the cohort total DASS score fell 34 2% (p=0 0058 t-Test), indicating a significant improvement in psychological well-being at an individual and cohort level Conclusion: In our study, there is a significant burden of psychological distress post cardiac event An exercise cardiac rehab programme was associated with significant improvement in psychological health Further studies are required to elucidate what components of the programme are associated with this improvement and whether these improvements are associated with long term prognostic gains
An Exercise Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme is Associated with Significant Improvement in Psychological Health