Post-myocardial infarction depression

Major depression is a common finding among patients recovering from a myocardial infarction. Additionally, clinically significant depressive symptoms are present in other patients whose symptom severity or duration does not meet established criteria for a diagnosis of major depression. Over the last decade, increasing evidence suggests that in addition to its effect on patient's quality of life, post-MI depression also deserves attention because of a reported relation to increased morbidity and mortality. This evidence report reviews the studies that have studied depression or depressive symptoms in patients after an MI and focuses on the prevalence, clinical significance, treatment, and methods of evaluating this condition. A large number of studies have evaluated various aspects of post-MI depression including prevalence, its association with mortality, and major adverse events, and treatment.