SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Zhongshan City People's Hospital, Zhongshan, China
- 2Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Anxiety and depressive symptoms are highly prevalent comorbidities among patients with myocardial infarction (MI). Although cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-established intervention for depression, its efficacy in MI patients remains inconclusive. Objective: To evaluate the effects of CBT on anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality in patients following MI. Design: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis. The study followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for reporting. Methods: Nine electronic databases were searched from inception to March 2025 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating CBT in patients with MI. Two independent researchers screened the literature, assessed study quality, and extracted data based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed to calculate mean differences, with statistical analyses conducted using Stata 15.0. Results: Eleven RCTs involving 1,575 participants were included. The findings showed that CBT led to 2 greater improvements in anxiety and depressive symptoms compared with control interventions. In addition, CBT significantly improved sleep quality among patients after MI. Conclusion: CBT is associated with improvements in psychological and sleep outcomes following MI. However, the existing evidence shows high variability and heterogeneity. Further large-scale, high-quality trials are needed to confirm these findings and develop standardized protocols for implementing CBT in this patient population. No Patient or Public Contribution: This study did not involve direct patient or public participation in the design, conduct, or reporting of the research. PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42025636352.
Keywords: Anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy, Depression, Meta-analysis, Myocardial Infarction, sleep quality
Received: 26 Sep 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wei, Fu, Liu, Huang and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhi Hong Huang
Xiao Qian Lu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.