Pain a year after heart attack linked with higher death risk within 8 years

New York: Pain one year following a heart attack is common and has now been linked with a higher likelihood of death within the next 8 years, an alarming study revealed on Wednesday.

Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the research said that moderate or extreme pain after a heart attack — most commonly pain due to other health conditions — may help predict the likelihood of death over the next 8.5 years.

In the study, participants who said they had extreme pain after a heart attack were more than twice as likely to die during the study period compared to those who reported no pain.

“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,” said Linda Vixner, an associate professor of medical science at the School of Health and Welfare at Dalarna University in Falun, Sweden.

The analysis of heart attack for more than 18,300 adults who had a heart attack from the Swedish quality registry found that nearly 45 per cent of the participants reported moderate or extreme pain one year after their heart attack.

Those with moderate pain were 35 per cent more likely than those with no pain to die from any cause during the study period of 8.5 years. Those who reported extreme pain were more than twice as likely to die during the 8.5 study period, compared to heart attack survivors who had no pain. Around 65 per cent of the participants experiencing pain at the two-month follow up were also experiencing pain at their 12-month follow up, indicating persistent and long-term pain, the findings showed.

“After a heart attack, it’s important to assess and recognise pain as an important risk factor of future mortality. 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,” Vixner said.

For patients with pain, it is of particular importance to reduce other risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, the authors advised.