Women more prone to develop anxiety, depression post heart attack than men

A new study has revealed that women are more likely to develop anxiety and depression after a heart attack (myocardial infarction; MI) than men.

According to the study, patients with depression are nearly 6 times more likely to die within 6 months after an MI than those without depression. The increased risk of death in patients with depression persists up to 18 months after the MI. But despite the fact that post-MI depression is common and burdensome, the condition remains under-recognised and undertreated.

Pranas Serpytis from Lithuania said that the findings showed that nearly one quarter of patients in the study were depressed (24.4 %) and of those, 28.2 % had received treatment with antidepressants. The average HADS score for depression was 6.87 in men and 8.66 in women (p<0.05). For anxiety the mean score was 7.18 in men and 8.20 in women.