Abstract
Background Depression is a well-known risk factor that aggravates the chances of having various complications of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) such as cardiovascular collapse, heart failure, arrhythmia, recurrent myocardial infarction, and stroke among patients of ACS. ACS is a broad term which includes unstable angina as well as myocardial infarction (MI). The purpose of this study is to analyze the prevalence of depression among the patients of MI admitted to the tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan. Methods and materials A hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in which 375 admitted and diagnosed patients of MI with a mean age of 58 years were interviewed at the cardiology department of the Civil Hospital and National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (NICVD) Hospital, Karachi, from June to November 2017 using a self-made validated questionnaire, including patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Results Overall, about 12.8% of the cases were screened positive for severe depression, 17.1% for moderately severe depression, 17.6% for moderate depression, and 32% for mild depression (total of 79.5%). Of 146 female subjects, 119 (81.5%) were found to be suffering from some degree of depression while 179 (78.2%) of the 229 males screened positive for some degree of depression. Furthermore, 79 (82.3%) of the 96 smokers were suffering from a range of depression while 219 (78.5%) of the 279 non-smokers suffered the same. In addition, the results of the PHQ-9 were cross-tabbed with age (p=0.34), gender (p=0.66), marital status (p=0.07), living status, smoking (p= 0.72), hypertension (p=0.55), and diabetes (p=0.19). Conclusion This study concludes that many of the patients of MI who were admitted to the tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan, are suffering from major depressive behavioral changes following the cardiovascular event, which is known to aggravate the chances of having complications associated with it.