Background: The quality of life (QoL) in acute myocardial infarction (MI) patients can be improved using 3 therapeutic methods — surgical, pharmaceutical and physical.
Study aim: We sought to assess the QoL in patients following an acute MI, with or without percutanous coronary intervention (PCI).
Material and methods: A number of 54 patients with acute MI were included in the study. All subjects were asked to complete the EQ-SD questionnaire at baseline, and during the 12-month follow-up. The questionnaire consists of 2 parts: 1st part – assesses the mobility, self care, activities of daily life (ADL), pain, depression and anxiety; 2nd part – visual analogue scale (VAS) for the overall state. Patients were divided into 4 groups: Group 1 – all patients (n = 54); Group 2 – males (n = 40), Group 3 – female patients (n = 14), and Group 4 – patients who underwent a PCI procedure (n = 48). Blood pressure (BP) was also monitored.
Results: The mean age was 66.54 years. There were no differences between the groups at baseline, and after 1 year regarding the BP. No differences were observed regarding the VAS (baseline p = 0.990; 12-month p = 0.991). Concerning the PCI vs. non-PCI groups, no differences were found in relation to mobility, self-care, ADL, pain and depression at baseline or after 12 months. For all groups at baseline, the limited mobility was positively correlated with impaired self-care (p = 0.041) and lower ADLs (p = 0.003). After 1 year, a limited mobility was associated with defective self-care (p <0.001) and decreased ADLs (p = 0.004) and there was an improvement in mobility (p = 0.0002) and self-care (p <0.0001), compared to baseline. The PCI group associated pain with depression at baseline (p <0.001) and limited mobility with lack of ADLs (p = 0.005). At 12 months, we observed an improvement in mobility, self-care (p <0.001), and the ADLs (p <0.001). The males showed a positive association between depression and pain (p <0.001) at baseline, but not after 1 year. Mobility was the only parameter that had improved during follow-up (p = 0.043). In the female group, pain (p = 0.015) and mobility (p = 0.033) had improved after 12 months.
Conclusions: The QoL had improved in terms of mobility, self-care and new skills acquired after PCI. Both depression and pain were ameliorated in the male group, despite the lack of improvement on VAS for the overall state.
