Background: Emotional support and depression may influence adherence to risk factor management instructions after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but their role requires further investigation.
Purpose: To examine the longitudinal association between perceived emotional support and risk factor management adherence and assess depressive symptoms as a moderator of this association.
Methods: Among 2,202 AMI patients, we assessed adherence to risk factor management instructions over the first recovery year. Modified Poisson mixed-effects regression evaluated associations, with adjustment for demographic and clinical factors.
Results: Patients with low baseline support had greater risk of poor adherence over the first year than patients with high baseline support (relative risk [RR] = 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02-1.43). In stratified analyses, low support remained a significant predictor of poor adherence for non-depressed (RR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.23-1.61) but not depressed (RR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.78-1.30) patients (p for interaction < 0.001).
Conclusions: Low emotional support is associated with poor risk factor management adherence after AMI. This relationship is moderated by depression, with a significant relationship observed only among non-depressed patients.