Interventions that improve health-related quality of life in patients with myocardial infarction

Purpose: Patients with myocardial infarction (MI) often report lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than those without MI. Interventions can affect HRQoL of these patients. The purpose of this review was to identify effective strategies for improving HRQoL among individuals with MI. Methods: Three electronic databases were searched and limited to articles peer-reviewed and published in English between 1995 and 2015. We screened titles and abstracts of the retrieved articles for studies that examined effectiveness of interventions to improve HRQoL in patients with MI. Results: Twenty-three studies were found that examined the effects of behavioural interventions—cardiac rehabilitation programmes (CRP), education and counselling programmes, and other psychological and cognitive interventions—to improve HRQoL in patients with MI. The studies included were mainly randomised controlled trials (14 studies) with a wide age range of participants (18–80 years) and a mean age group of 50–70 years. CRPs, including home- and hospital-based CRPs, regular weekly aerobic training programmes, and group counselling mostly resulted in improvement of HRQoL in patients with MI. Conclusion: Most CRPs and other interventions were beneficial to MI patients. Therefore, patients with MI should be encouraged to participate in programmes that can help promote their HRQoL.