Many people with heart failure or who have had a Heart attack suffer from psychological distress, yet only about one third of such patients have visited a mental health professional, according to new study findings.

“Physicians need to be aware that psychological distress is a problem among patients with cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Amy K. Ferketich, from the Ohio State University School of Public Health in Columbus.

Most importantly, “screening tools are available so that these patients can be identified and referred for appropriate treatment.”

Ferketich, along with her colleague Dr. Philip F. Binkley, analyzed data from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey, a large annual survey of US citizens. Data from 17,541 subjects were included in the researchers’ analysis.

Psychological distress was assessed using a questionnaire called K6, which asked how often a person “felt sad, nervous, restless, hopeless, everything was an effort, and worthless” in the last 30 days. Each of the six conditions was scored from 0 to 4 and a total score of 13 or higher indicated psychological distress.

The prevalence of psychological distress among patients with heart failure, a heart attack, or Coronary heart disease was 10 percent, 6.4 percent, and 4.1 percent, respectively, the team reports in the European Heart Journal.

By contrast, the estimated rate of psychological distress among individuals without cardiovascular disease was 2.8 percent.

Further analysis showed that a diagnosis of MI or heart failure doubled and tripled the likelihood of suffering psychological distress, respectively. However, just 31-35 percent of patients with cardiovascular disease and psychological distress saw a mental health professional, the report indicates.

The findings show that it is important for doctors to address the “mental health needs of these patients as well as their cardiac condition,” Ferketich emphasized.

SOURCE: European Heart Journal, online June 9, 2005.