Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship of ejection fraction (EF) and depressive symptoms in cardiac surgery patients assigned to nurse-guided cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or usual care (UC).
Methods: Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Seventy-seven patients (31% women; mean [SD] age, 63.6 [9.8] years) received 8 weeks of either CBT or UC. Using repeated-measures analysis of variance, changes in depressive symptoms over time were evaluated.
Results: There was a significant interaction among time, treatment group, and EF status (p = 0.019). In the patients with preserved EF (≥40%), mean BDI scores in the UC group worsened by 1.9%, whereas those in the CBT group improved by 31.0%. In the patients with low EF (<40%), mean BDI scores worsened by 26.8% and improved by 75.3% in the UC and CBT groups, respectively.
Conclusions: Nurse-guided CBT is effective in reducing depressive symptoms after cardiac surgery, particularly in patients with low EF.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00522717.