Heart Attack Ups Spouses Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicide

Spouses of people who have a sudden heart attack are at increased risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide, even if their partner survives, according to Danish researchers. Dr Fosbøl, a cardiology research fellow at Duke University Medical Center at the time the study was conducted, and colleagues found that more than 3-times the number of people whose spouses died from an AMI were using antidepressants in the year after the event compared with the year before. Furthermore, nearly 50-times as many spouses used a benzodiazepine (anti-anxiety drug) after the event compared to before. Antidepressant use was also higher in those whose spouse had survived an AMI, with antidepressant use being 17% higher after the event. However, antidepressant use remained unchanged in spouses of patients surviving a non-AMI related condition. The study also showed that suicide was slightly more common in people who had lost a spouse to a fatal AMI or whose spouse survived an AMI than in those with spouses who died from, or survived, a non-AMI-condition. Men were found to be significantly more likely to suffer depression and commit suicide after an event than women. The researchers believe that the sudden and unexpected nature of an AMI is the cause of psychological problems in their spouse. "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," said Dr Fosbøl. "The larger psychological impact of a sudden loss is similar to post-traumatic stress disorder." The researchers concluded: “Spouses of those who experience AMIs-both fatal and non-fatal-are at elevated risk for psychological consequences; therefore, the care needs of AMI patients and their spouses need to be considered.”