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Objective

To quantify the efficacy of mental health (antidepressants & psychotherapies) and cardiac rehabilitation treatments for improving secondary event risk and depression among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods

Using meta-analytic methods, we evaluated mental health and cardiac rehabilitation therapies for a) reducing secondary events and 2) improving depression severity in patients with CHD. Key word searches of PubMed and Psychlit databases and previous reviews identified relevant trials.

Results

Eighteen mental health trials evaluated secondary events and 22 trials evaluated depression reduction. Cardiac rehabilitation trials for the same categories numbered 17 and 13, respectively. Mental health treatments did not reduce total mortality (absolute risk reduction [ARR]=− 0.001, confidence interval [95% CI]=− 0.016 to 0.015; number needed to treat [NNT]=∞), showed moderate …