Effect of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation on anxiety and depression in patients with myocardial infarction: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has been shown to provide the best social, psychological and physical conditions for patient recovery after myocardial infarction (MI).

OBJECTIVES: The aim of present study was to quantify the efficacy of exercise-based CR treatments in terms of relief from symptoms of anxiety and depression symptoms among patients with MI.

METHODS: Literature published up to August 2017 was reviewed systematically using relevant keywords, MeSH terms, and Emtree headings to search PubMed, Embase, CINAHL (Ebsco), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Web of Science. The results of included studies were compared meta-analytically.

RESULTS: We found that exercise-based CR had a significant effect on decreasing anxiety and depression scores. Furthermore, exercise-based CR may alleviate anxiety and depressive symptoms at different time periods.

CONCLUSIONS: For patients with MI, exercise-based CR has been demonstrated to alleviate anxiety and depressive symptoms. These findings highlight CR as essential and beneficial for minimizing MI patient anxiety and depression during recovery.