Clinical Effect of Early Application of Self-prescribed Yiqihuoxue Decoction on Prevention and Treatment of Depressive Symptoms after Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

BackgroundPost-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients are prone to depression and other negative emotions. Current treatment for post-AMI patients with depression is anti-myocardial infarction treatment plus anti-depression treatment, in the circumstances that the patients have depression. In view of this, the therapeutic program could not be used early in most post-AMI patients.ObjectiveTo assess the effect of early application of self-prescribed Yiqihuoxue Decoction on the prevention and treatment of post-AMI depression.MethodsParticipants were eligible AMI inpatients (n=44) who were selected from Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine from May 2020 to March 2021 and equally randomized into a control group and an experimental group, receiving three-week standard Western treatment, and three-week standard Western treatment with self-prescribed Yiqihuoxue Decoction, respectively. The interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were measured at the end of one-week treatment. At the end of three-week treatment, depression prevalence was estimated using HAMD-17 score, angina pectoris was graded using angina score, and TCM syndrome score and improvement rate of TCM syndrome were measured.ResultsThe HAMD-17 score in the experimental group decreased significantly after treatment (P<0.05) . The IL-6 in both groups demonstrated a significant decrease after treatment (P<0.05) , and the decrease was much more obvious in the experimental group (P<0.05) . The IL-8 in the control group was lower after treatment than at baseline (P<0.05) . The post-treatment angina score in the experimental group was lower than that in control group (P<0.05) . The TCM syndrome score decreased significantly in both groups after treatment (P<0.05) . And it showed a much more obvious decrease in the experimental group (P<0.05) . The TCM syndrome improvement rate in the experimental group was higher than that in control group (P<0.05) .ConclusionFor AMI patients, early use of self-prescribed Yiqihuoxue Decoction significantly reduced the serum IL-6 level, relieved angina pectoris symptoms and improved TCM syndrome, as well as slightly alleviated the incidence of depressive symptoms