Post-acute myocardial infarction differences in physical activity behavior, anxiety, and depression levels

Abstract Background: Improving physical activity, anxiety and depression levels among post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients is essential, necessitating interventions to improve these outcomes. This is a need for more research on physical activity, anxiety, and depression levels based on type of AMI following hospitalization. Aim: To compare physical activity behavior, anxiety, and depression levels among post-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and post-non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients not involved in cardiac rehabilitation program following hospitalization.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed with a convenience sample of 254 post-AMI patients, four weeks after hospitalization. Participants, recruited from three hospitals in Jordan, completed the socio-demographic and clinical data, International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF), General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Questionnaire, and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9. Results: The sample characteristics included the following: 140 males (54.3%), 120 married (47.2%), diagnosed with STEMI (n = 137, 53.1%) or NSTEMI (n = 117, 45.3%). 41.3% of participants had moderate-to-severe anxiety level (GAD-7 >10), while 22.0% had moderate to severe depression levels (PHQ-9 >10). Post-STEMI and post-NSTEMI participants had moderate levels of anxiety, with 14.39 (3.45) vs. 13.37 (3.51); and depression levels of 12.66 (3.28) vs. 12.22 (3.54), respectively. There was no significant difference in depression level between post-STEMI and post-NSTEMI patients, but the former had statistically significant higher anxiety level than the latter. The mean self-reported exercise duration and exercise frequency post-STEMI patients was significantly higher than for their post-NSTEMI counterparts: 151.7 (76.33) vs. 87.78 (37.62) minutes per week, and 2.92 (1.44) vs. 1.97 (0.88) times per week (respectively). Furthermore, post-STEMI patients had less mean sedentary time: 582.92 (128.92) and 641.54 (147. 27) minutes per day (p ˂ 0.05) (respectively). Conclusions: Improving physical activity behavior, anxiety, and depression status, are essential outcome for post-AMI patients, particularly post-NSTEMI. Healthcare providers have to consider the differences in physical activity behavior, anxiety, depression levels based on types of AMI when developing interventions to improve physical activity behavior and reducing sedentary time. Further studies to replicate and confirm the study findings with different methodology and longer follow-up period are strongly recommended.