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Efficacy and Feasibility of a Tele-health Intervention for Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients with Depression: Results of the “MoodCare” Randomized Controlled Trial

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Depression is common after a cardiac event, yet there remain few approaches to management that are both effective and scalable.

Purpose

We aimed to evaluate the 6-month efficacy and feasibility of a tele-health program (MoodCare) that integrates depression management into a cardiovascular disease risk reduction program for acute coronary syndrome patients with low mood.

Methods

A two-arm, parallel, randomized design was used comprising 121 patients admitted to one of six hospitals for acute coronary syndrome.

Results

Significant treatment effects were observed for Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ9) depression (mean difference [change] = −1.8; p = 0.025; effect size: d = 0.36) for the overall sample, when compared with usual medical care. Results were more pronounced effects for those with a history of depression (mean difference [change] = −2.7; p = 0.043; effect size: d = 0.65).

Conclusions

MoodCare was effective for improving depression in acute coronary syndrome patients, producing effect sizes exceeding those of some face-to-face psychotherapeutic interventions and pharmacotherapy. (Trial Registration Number: ACTRN1260900038623.)

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by an Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing Grant under the Sharing Health Care Initiative and a grant from beyondblue: the national depression and anxiety initiative. AO was supported by a postgraduate award from the Heart Foundation (PP 08 M4079) while undertaking this work and is currently supported by a fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)(#1052865). KS is supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship (FT991524). We thank our coinvestigators Dr. Stephen Bunker, Professor Helen Christensen, Professor Ole Mortensen, and Professor Andrew Forbes. We also thank key staff at participating recruitment sites including Professor Linda Worrall-Carter and Associate Professor Karen Page. We gratefully acknowledge Janice Whetton, Stephen Edwards, and Dr. Megan De Souza for their contribution to the intervention and Dr. Leah Brennan for feedback on the original version of the manuscript. We also thank all study participants.

Authors’ Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Authors O’Neil, Taylor, Sanderson, Cyril, Chan, Hawkes, Professor Jelinek, Venugopal, Atherton, Amerena, Grigg, Walters, and Oldenburg declare that they have no conflict of interest. DL Hare developed the CDS and has received research, fellowship, and consultancy funds from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the National Heart Foundation of Australia, the Austin Medical Research Foundation, beyondblue, and Diabetes Australia for the development and researching of this scale. He has also received payment for research projects, consultancies, travel, advisory board memberships, and lectures from industry including Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biotronic, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Biotherapies, Hoffmann-La Roche, Hospira, Lundbeck (Denmark), Medtronic, Menarini, Merck KA (Germany), Merck (US), MSD, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier, and Wyeth. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Deakin University, PO Box 281, Geelong, VIC, 3220, Australia

    Adrienne O’Neil BA(Hons) PhD & Kamalesh Venugopal PhD

  2. School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Adrienne O’Neil BA(Hons) PhD, Sheila Cyril MBBS, MPH & Brian Oldenburg BSc, MPsych, PhD

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Barr Taylor MD

  4. Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Kristy Sanderson BSc(Hons) PhD

  5. Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Bianca Chan BSc/BA, MPH

  6. School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Anna L. Hawkes BSc(Hons) MPH, PhD

  7. School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Anna L. Hawkes BSc(Hons) MPH, PhD

  8. Department of Cardiology, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia

    David L. Hare MBBS, DPM, FRACP, FCSANZ

  9. Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    David L. Hare MBBS, DPM, FRACP, FCSANZ

  10. Cardiology Unit, St. Vincent’s Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Michael Jelinek MBBS, MD, FRACP, FACC, FCSANZ

  11. University Department of Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Michael Jelinek MBBS, MD, FRACP, FACC, FCSANZ

  12. Cardiovascular Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Michael Jelinek MBBS, MD, FRACP, FACC, FCSANZ

  13. Department of Cardiology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    John J. Atherton PhD, FRACP, FCSANZ

  14. Department of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    John J. Atherton PhD, FRACP, FCSANZ

  15. Department of Cardiology, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    John Amerena MBBS, FRACP, FCSANZ

  16. Department of Cardiology, Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Leeanne Grigg MBBS(Hons), FRACP, FCSANZ

  17. Department of Cardiology, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Darren L. Walters MBBS, MPhil, FRACP, FCSANZ

Authors
  1. Adrienne O’Neil BA(Hons) PhD
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  2. Barr Taylor MD
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  3. Kristy Sanderson BSc(Hons) PhD
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  4. Sheila Cyril MBBS, MPH
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  5. Bianca Chan BSc/BA, MPH
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  6. Anna L. Hawkes BSc(Hons) MPH, PhD
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  7. David L. Hare MBBS, DPM, FRACP, FCSANZ
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  8. Michael Jelinek MBBS, MD, FRACP, FACC, FCSANZ
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  9. Kamalesh Venugopal PhD
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  10. John J. Atherton PhD, FRACP, FCSANZ
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  11. John Amerena MBBS, FRACP, FCSANZ
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  12. Leeanne Grigg MBBS(Hons), FRACP, FCSANZ
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  13. Darren L. Walters MBBS, MPhil, FRACP, FCSANZ
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  14. Brian Oldenburg BSc, MPsych, PhD
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Consortia

on behalf of the MoodCare Investigator Team

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrienne O’Neil BA(Hons) PhD.

Additional information

Trial Registration Number: ACTRN1260900038623

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O’Neil, A., Taylor, B., Sanderson, K. et al. Efficacy and Feasibility of a Tele-health Intervention for Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients with Depression: Results of the “MoodCare” Randomized Controlled Trial. ann. behav. med. 48, 163–174 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9592-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9592-0

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