A small study suggests that heart attack patients may have more PTSD when admissions increase.
Having an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is obviously stressful, and some patients develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Postulating that the medical environment could contribute to PTSD, these authors assessed whether patients admitted from the emergency department (ED) during busier times suffer more stress.
The authors evaluated data from a convenience sample of 135 patients with ACS who participated in a larger observational cohort study. All patients were admitted for ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-STEMI, or unstable angina. The authors used number of admissions in the 12-hour periods before and after each patient's admission as a proxy for ED crowding, and score on a PTSD symptom questionnaire (controll…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education
Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality; CDC; NIH–National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); NIH–NIAID–Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group; Merck; Pfizer; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Shire; Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis; bioMérieux; Siemens; Rapid Pathogen Screening; Magnolia; Stago; Innovative Biosensors; Molecular Detection, Inc.; Dyax Corp.; Trius Pharmaceuticals
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education
Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality; CDC; NIH–National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); NIH–NIAID–Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group; Merck; Pfizer; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Shire; Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis; bioMérieux; Siemens; Rapid Pathogen Screening; Magnolia; Stago; Innovative Biosensors; Molecular Detection, Inc.; Dyax Corp.; Trius Pharmaceuticals