Patients still experiencing moderate or extreme chest pain one year after a heart attack are much more likely to die within the next eight years, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.[1]
“Pain causes significant loss of function and may lead to disability, all of which contribute to major, global public health issues,” first author Linda Vixner, PT, PhD, an associate professor of medical science at Dalarna University in Sweden, said in a statement about the study. “Research indicates that pain is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease and overall death; however, the impact of pain on death after a heart attack has not yet been examined in large studies.”
Vixner et al. examined data from more than 18,000 patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI). The mean age was 62 years old, and 75% of patients were men. All patients were younger than 75 years old and lived in Sweden at the time of the MI.
One year post-MI, patients had a follow-up appointment with a physician and were asked to report the severity of any ongoing chest pain they were experiencing. While 38.2% of patients reported moderate pain, another 4.5% reported extreme pain.
The authors then tracked years of follow-up data, determining that 5.8% of patients died up to 8.5 years after those one-year follow-up appointments. All research focused on all-cause mortality, not cardiovascular-specific mortality or any other measures specifically focused on heart health.
Overall, patients in moderate pain one year after a MI were 35% more likely to die during the next 8.5 years than patients with no pain after a MI. Patients in extreme pain, meanwhile, were more than twice as likely to die.
“After a heart attack, it’s important to assess and recognize pain as an important risk factor of future mortality,” Vixner said. “In addition, severe pain may be a potential obstacle to rehabilitation and participation in important heart-protective activities such as regular exercise; reduced or lack of physical activity, in turn, increases risk. For patients with pain, it is of particular importance to reduce other risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.”
Read the full analysis here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.