In our study, depression and education level were identified as
the predicators for physical health as assessed by SF-12, though
only 22% of the variance was explained by these factors.
Nevertheless, the results suggest that high HADS depression scores
predicted lower physical health, while higher educational levels
predicted better physical health. Outpatients with CHD suffering
from depression are often found to be distracted from engaging in
secondary prevention behaviors such as exercising and medication
adherence, and this accelerates disease progression and worsens
physical outcome (Dickens, Cherrington, & McGowan, 2012). Highly
educated patients tend to have better levels of health literacy which
results in better self-care ability and improved health outcomes