Depression is a common mental illness in today’s society and it affects almost everyone at some point. The World Health Organisation estimates that about 5 percent of the adult population worldwide suffers from depression. And now a recent study has concluded that antidepressant and mental illness drugs may prove to be fatal for heart patients. These medications triple the risk of early death among heart patients, says the research.
When a person is under a lot of stress for a long time, he becomes depressed. After that, he takes antidepressant medication. The findings of this study were published in the European Society of Cardiology’s journal, European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.
According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 28 crore people worldwide are depressed, with women being more vulnerable to depression than men. Furthermore, depression is more prevalent among the elderly than in adults.
Copenhagen University Hospital Denmark’s Dr Pernille Fevejle Kromhout, the lead author of the study, said, “Our study revealed that the use of psychotropic drugs in heart patients is very common.”
Since every one of three heart patients shows anxiety symptoms, it is important that heart patients be systematically examined for psychosis.
He also said that it is important to remember that prescribing psychotropic drugs to a heart patient can increase the risk of death. However, more research is needed to
determine whether the high death rate is due to psychotropic drugs or mental illness. Previous research has linked worsening anxiety symptoms in heart patients to an increased risk of poor health and even death.
A total of 12,913 heart patients with ischemic heart disease, heart failure, or arrhythmias were included in the study.
At the time of discharge, all of these patients were asked to complete a questionnaire and were graded on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale based on scores of
eight or more in terms of anxiety symptoms.
Six months prior to their hospitalisation, information on such people taking antidepressant or psychiatric drugs was gathered from the National Register. Their deaths were investigated for a year after they were discharged from the hospital.
