Antidepressants stop repeat heart attacks-study

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Heart attack patients who suffer from
depression, something that happens in one of every five cases,
can cut their risk of suffering another heart attack by taking
antidepressant drugs, a study said on Monday.

“Our study provides much stronger evidence than we’ve ever
had before that antidepressants are safe and may benefit these
patients,” said C. Barr Taylor, a physician at Stanford
University School of Medicine who was the lead author of the
study.

Depression and heart disease have long been recognized as
companions, and one can lead to the other, according to the
National Institute of Mental Health. Depressed people may find
it harder to take their medicines and depression can also
result in elevated levels of stress hormones which can harm the
heart.

The study published in the July issue of the Archives of
General Psychiatry involved 1,834 men and women who were
depressed or “socially isolated” after suffering heart attacks.

It found that use of selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors — a class of drugs that includes Prozac, Paxil and
Zoloft — was associated with a 43 percent lower risk of death
or recurrent nonfatal heart attack compared to those in the
group studied who did not take the drugs.

“The results basically suggest that these medications are
very useful for patients who have had heart attacks and are
depressed,” said Taylor, adding that he would recommend that
any post-heart attack patient with depression be evaluated for
treatment.

The study was paid for by the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute.

Pfizer Inc. markets Zoloft, GlaxoSmithKline Plc Paxil and
Eli Lilly and Co. Prozac.