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Chest Pain common one year after Heart
Attack
Newswise — Nearly one in five patients
experiences chest pain one year after having
a heart attack, according to a report in the
June 23 issue of Archives of Internal
Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.
One of the main goals of in-hospital
treatment and outpatient care after heart
attack is to relieve angina (or episodic
chest pain), according to background
information in the article.
The prevalence and treatment of chest pain
one year after heart attack are largely
unknown.
“By identifying these factors, a more
complete understanding of those patients who
are at the greatest risk for angina [chest
pain] after myocardial infarction [heart
attack] can occur,” the authors write.
Identifying this population is important for
treating remaining chest pain and improving
patient outcomes, including ability to
exercise and health-related quality of life.
Thomas M. Maddox, M.D., S.M., of Denver
Veterans Affairs Medical Center and
University of Colorado Denver, and
colleagues studied the occurrence of angina
in 1,957 patients recruited from January
2003 to June 2004.
Patients filled out questionnaires assessing
their chest pain one year after
hospitalization for heart attack.
Sociodemographic, clinical and other
lifestyle factors were also reported.
Of all patients, 389 (19.9 percent) reported
angina one year after hospitalization for
heart attack. Twenty-four patients (1.2
percent) reported having daily chest pain,
59 (3 percent) reported weekly chest pain
and 306 (15.6 percent) reported having chest
pain less than once a week.
Patients experiencing chest pain one year
after heart attack were more likely to be
younger, non-white males with prior chest
pain who have undergone prior coronary
artery bypass graft surgery and have
experienced recurring rest chest pain while
hospitalized for heart attack.
Patients with one-year chest pain were also
more likely to continue smoking, to undergo
revascularization (surgery to reestablish
blood flow to the heart) after
hospitalization and to have significant new,
persistent or fleeting depressive symptoms.
“Multiple factors were associated with
one-year angina, including demographic,
clinical, inpatient and outpatient
characteristics.
"Recognition
of these relationships will be important in
monitoring at-risk patients after acute
myocardial infarction,” the authors
conclude.
“In
addition, future investigation into
modifiable factors, such as depression and
smoking cessation, will be important in the
quest to alleviate angina and improve
subsequent cardiac outcomes among patients
after myocardial infarction.”
Editor’s Note: This study was supported in
part by CV Therapeutics Inc., Palo Alto,
California, and in part by a grant from the
National Institutes of Health Specialized
Centers of Clinically Oriented Research.
Please see the article for additional
information, including other authors, author
contributions and affiliations, financial
disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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