Myocardial Infarction Better Known as Heart Attack

¶ … Antidepressants May Improve Heart Attack Survival

Origin

Health Day Reporter

Ed Edelson

Date Published: July 05, 2005

This article was written in the subject of possibilities for improving heart attack survival through the help of antidepressants. Dr. C. Barr Taylor, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, provided the results from his studies about the effect of antidepressants after a heart attack. Taylor also who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal. Despite of Taylor's findings, Dr. Glassman however reiterates the following warning:

"even though a previous study produced similar evidence of the beneficial effects of antidepressants after a heart attack, the new finding may not translate directly into clinical practice"

Glassman points out that further study is still important to prove the effect of antidepressants after a heart attack and to provide enough evidence of the positive benefits of antidepressants that previous studies claim. Without a large scale study on the subject, it should be regarded that there is an apparent deficiency in the exploration done on antidepressants for heart attacks. Glassman claims that

" ... antidepressant drug reduced the risk of death or a second heart attack by 43%, said the report in the July issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry"

Although the claim on the positive benefit of antidepressants are clearly stipulated by a number of journals, the use of the drug is still dependent on the prescription of doctors. According to Dr. Richard Lange, chief of clinical cardiology at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, it is upon the practice and mandate of cardiologist and physicians to prescribe such drug in collaboration with psychiatrists.

Because of the issues that are still to be explored and investigated regarding antidepressants as a drug after a heart attack, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had issued a statement on careful regulation and observation on the use of the medication/drug.

Statistical Procedures

The above mentioned article/newspaper clippings on antidepressants for improving heart attack survival utilized the following statistical procedures:

Point of Inquiry- This initial procedure was used in clarifying issues pertaining to the use of antidepressants being prescribed by health professionals. Antidepressants as defined by Wikipedia Encyclopedia as:

"a medication used primarily in the treatment of clinical depression. Antipdepressants are commonly used in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Such medications allegedly produces adverse effect due to sudden withrawal. Though the use of the drug are clouded by several issues, this article are pushing the partial or impartial prescription of the drug for the improvement of heart attack survival.

Data Gathering - Information about the use of the medication (antidepressants) and all isues surrounding the drug were considered thoroughly by the authors of the journals. It was thru systematic inquiry done by both Dr. C. Barr Taylor and Dr. Alexander H. Glassman that gave them detailed and essential information on whether antidepressants are sufficiently safe for the improvement and rapid recovery of heart attack patients. Data were primarily from first hand results of the authors' studies and investigations, as well as from their experiences in the practice of medicine.

Experimentation- Research and experiments were employed in order to provide evidences that antidepressants would be an alternative if not a complete cure and improvement of heart attack patients. Based on the article, several studies were made by the authors of several journals with regards to the said medical case. Experimentations were primed in the numbers of patients who suffered heart attacks that were undergoing psychotherapy and those not undergoing the treatment.

Analysis of the Case Study -- Several process of analyzing the effects of the medication were made. These were primarily based on previous studies made by the authors of the report. As stipulated by Dr. C. Barr Taylor;

"our study provides much stronger evidence than we've ever had before that antidepressants are safe and may benefit these patients" and were partially contradicted by Dr. Alexander H. Glassman in saying that:

"but even though a previous study produced similar evidence of the beneficial effects of antidepressants after a heart attack, the new finding may not translate directly into clinical practice"

Results were directly scrutinized by all of the experts in this field of study in order to give and furnish conclusive findings of the case. Flaws on the research were verified, such that

The analysis looked at the 28% of patients in the therapy group and the 20% of those in the non-therapy group who were given antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors because of the severity of their depression.

This note sums up to the fractional validity on the results of all prior study on the use of Antidepressants.

Derivation of Results- based on the report, the following results were derived from the experimentation and analysis of the case study:

1. That there were no definitive evidence that may be considered in using the data from the study as a standard of care for patients undergoing treatment.

2. That even though there was no sufficient result on the treatment of heart attack patients in using antidepressants, according to Dr. Lange, there are currently no enough mandates that makes it illegal or prevents the physicians and practitioners to prescribe the intake of antidepressant drugs to patients. However, it must be noted that there is still a valid process to investigate the judgments considered by practitioners when prescribing the drug.