Association of Baseline Anxiety With Depression Persistence at 6 Months in Patients With Acute Cardiac Illness

OBJECTIVETo assess the association of baseline anxiety with depression persistence and change in depressive symptoms 6 months after cardiac hospitalization.METHODSData were analyzed from 137 depressed patients hospitalized on inpatient cardiac units for acute coronary syndrome, decompensated heart failure, or arrhythmia and who were enrolled in a randomized trial of collaborative care depression management. Subjects' demographic, medical, and psychiatric information at baseline was compiled. Measures of health-related quality of life, cardiac symptoms, and psychiatric symptoms, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-anxiety subscale (HADS-A) for anxiety, were obtained at baseline and serially during a 6-month follow-up period. The association between baseline HADS-A score and depression persistence (