Copenhagen: Spouses of heart attack victims are the sufferers too, even if their partner survives a heart attack, according to Danish researchers.
Partners are three times more likely to start using anti depressants after losing their spouse because of a heart attack, study further discovered.
Even if the partner survives a heart attack, the use of anti depressants still increased by 17% as compared to the last year’s use.
Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “A heart attack can impact the whole family, and this study emphasizes the importance of caring for the partners of heart attack sufferers.
“We know that people can feel anxious or helpless when a loved one has a heart attack. It is essential they receive the emotional and practical support they need during this often traumatic time.”
Report author Dr Emil Fosbol, from Duke University Medical Center, said, “This is a major public health issue for which there seems to be very little awareness among doctors and policy makers.
“The most important finding of this study is that the system needs to consider the care needs for the spouses too, not only when a patient dies from a [sudden heart attack], but also when the patient is ‘just admitted’ to hospital [after a sudden heart attack] and survives.”
The research also reveals that the level of depression and anxiety is much higher in the people whose spouses died due to a heart attack than any other disease. This is the first search of its own kind and it also suggests that men suffer more than women.
Dr Fosbol explains the reason for such extreme impact on the spouse of a heart attack victim, “If your partner dies suddenly from a heart attack, you have no time to prepare psychologically for the death, whereas if someone is ill with, for example, cancer, there is more time to grow used to the idea.
“The larger psychological impact of a sudden loss is similar to post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Researchers studied 16,506 spouses of people who died from a sudden heart attack between 1997 and 2008 and 44,566 spouses of patients who survived a sudden heart attack, using Danish registries.
They also investigated intake of anti-depressants and drugs to treat anxiety before and up to a year after the event, and medical records for depression and suicide.
The scientists also compared this data with the health of 49,518 people whose partners died from causes unrelated to a sudden heart attack, and 131, 563 spouses of people admitted to hospital for a non-fatal condition unrelated to a sudden heart attack.
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