Psychologic Trauma of Heart Attack Impairs Recovery

Some heart attack patients develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), making it hard for them to recover, according to a study conducted by researchers at Mt. Sinai Medical Center (NY, NY, USA). The study was published in the July/August 2001 issue of General Hospital Psychiatry.

The study involved 102 heart attack patients who were followed by the researchers for six months to one year. Overall, they found that 40% of the patients experienced one or more PTSD symptoms, while about 10% developed significant PTSD symptoms. As a result, those with significant symptoms were less likely to take their heart medication as prescribed, returning more unused pills than other patients and impairing their recovery. The researchers found that poor compliance with medication correlated with more serious adverse events, such as death, another heart attack, or unstable angina. Most of the adverse events occurred in the patients who had suffered more medical symptoms, which were also the patients most likely to suffer from PTSD symptoms.

"A patient who is suffering from PTSD that is related to medical illness may not take the prescribed medication because taking it serves as a recurrent reminder of the traumatic experience,” notes Eyal Shemsh, M.D., of Mt. Sinai Medical Center.




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