Early discharge of patients with acute myocardial infarction has no adverse psychological consequences

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether 1) early hospital discharge results in adverse psychological outcome assessed at three months, and 2) whether patients with a complicated versus an uncomplicated clinical course have different psychological profiles. Methods: The Heart Patients Psychological Questionnaire was administered to 645 consecutive myocardial infarction patients on the fifth day of hospitalization and at three months. Baseline demographic and clinical variables were sampled from medical records. Patients were divided into four groups according to study phase (registration versus validation) and clinical course (complicated versus uncomplicated). Results: No differences in psychological outcome were found at three months between patients discharged early and those who remained in hospital for the conventional period. No relation was found between clinical course and psychological profile. Correcting for baseline differences, registration phase patients with a complicated course scored lower on feelings of being disabled at three months than patients with an uncomplicated course. Conclusion: 1) Early discharge had no adverse psychological consequences for patients with myocardial infarction; 2) Psychological profiles of uncomplicated patients and complicated patients were comparable.