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Patients with MI may be undertreated for depression

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Patients with MI are more depressed but often receive less antidepressants than patients who did not have MI, according to new data presented at EuroHeartCare 2016.

“Stress-related disorders such as depression and exhaustion are increasingly common and have been the main reason for long-term sick leave in Sweden for more than a decade,” Barbro Kjellström, BMS, PhD, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said in a press release. “We know that stress and depression are big risk factors for [MI] and we confirmed this connection in our study. But what was new and astonishing was that [patients with MI] less often receive treatment for depression.”

The current data came from a substudy of the PAROKRANK study, which found that patients with periodontitis have a 30% increased risk for having a first MI. Detailed questionnaires on stress, depression and exhaustion were collected for the 805 patients who had experienced an MI and the 805 patients without MI. Eighty-one percent of the patients were men, and the average age was 62 years.

According to results, symptoms of depression were more prevalent in patients with MI than those in the control group (14% vs. 7%; P < .001), and they received less treatment with antidepressants (16% vs. 42%; P < .001). Patients with MI also experienced more stress at home (18% vs. 11%; P < .001) and at work (42% vs. 32%; P < .001). Even moderate levels of stress at home increased the risk for MI (OR = 2.15; 99% CI, 1.35-3.41), according to the researchers.

“It appears that patients who had a [MI] did not seek help for their depression, or if they did, their symptoms were not accurately recognized and managed. An important take-home message is for clinicians to ask patients, ‘How do you feel?’ and listen to the reply, rather than zoning out because they are stressed themselves,” Kjellström said. – by Tracey Romero

Reference:

Kjellstrom B, et, al. Abstract 255. Presented at: EuroHeartCare 2016; April 15-16, 2016; Athens, Greece.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.