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Psychotropic drug use linked to mortality in heart patients: a study

By Cristiano Antonino Last updated Feb 20, 2022

According to a study recently published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, the use of psychotropic drugs is associated with increased mortality in cardiac patients

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Pernille Fevejle Cromhout, Ph.D., from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues examined the association between psychotropic drug use, anxiety and mortality from any cause at one year among cardiac patients in the DenHeart survey.

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The Danish study on psychotropic drugs in cardiac patients

Data from 12,913 patients were included, of whom 18% were using these drugs and 3% died within one year.

The use of these drugs was higher in women, older patients, smokers, widowed patients, those with less education and patients with more comorbidities.

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Psychotropic drugs were used by 28% of patients with anxiety symptoms and 14% of those without anxiety symptoms

The researchers found that the use of these drugs was associated with an increase in mortality from any cause at one year (odds ratio: 1.90).

After hospital discharge, patients with anxiety symptoms were significantly more likely to use these drugs (odds ratio: 2.47).

“The use of psychotropic medications could partially explain the higher mortality among cardiac patients with anxiety symptoms,” the authors write.

“However, the higher mortality among cardiac patients with anxiety symptoms could be attributable to an underlying psychiatric illness rather than to the use of psychotropic medications.”