The New York Times (6/21, Parker-Pope) “Well” blog reports, “The emotional toll of a heart attack can be so severe that an estimated one in eight patients who survive the experience develop post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that doubles the risk of dying of a second heart attack, according to new research” by the from Columbia University Medical Center. The Times adds, “While it has long been known that a heart attack affects both physical and mental health, most doctors and patients are not aware that the emotional stress of a life-threatening heart event can develop into full-blown” PTSD.
The Los Angeles Times (6/21, Khan) “Booster Shots” blog reports that investigators “looked at the results from 24 studies involving nearly 2,400 heart patients, and found that about 12% of heart attack patients went on to develop PTSD symptoms.” The researchers reported that “4% of heart patients met the full criteria for the disorder.” The investigators “also found that those heart attack patients with PTSD symptoms were twice as likely to have a second heart attack or die as the heart attack patients without PTSD symptoms.”
Related Links:
— “Heart Attack Survivors May Develop P.T.S.D., “Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times, June 20, 2012.