Studies have shown that survivors of myocardial infarction can develop several other diseases, including heart failure, kidney failure, diabetes, and depression. The research team, led by Professor Mallus Halls of the Department of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at the University of Leeds Medical School in the UK, analysed the medical records of patients aged 18 years or older who received hospital treatment at 299 medical institutions under the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) between 2008 and 2017.
Medical Express reported on the 17th that this fact was revealed. Among these, there was data showing that 433,361 people (average age 67 years, 66% male) who were hospitalized for their first myocardial infarction were hospitalized and treated for 11 non-fatal diseases within 9 years after the myocardial infarction.
The research team compared and analysed the medical records of 2,001,310 control subjects with no history of myocardial infarction who were matched for age and gender. As a result, the myocardial infarction group showed significantly higher rates of 11 diseases, including heart failure, renal failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, peripheral artery disease, severe bleeding, type 2 diabetes, and depression, than the control group.
Up to one-third of the myocardial infarction group developed heart failure and renal failure. 7% had recurrent myocardial infarction. The incidence of heart failure was 29.6% in the myocardial infarction group and 9.8% in the control group, and the incidence of renal failure was 27.2% in the myocardial infarction group and 19.8% in the control group.
The incidence of atrial fibrillation was 22.3% in the myocardial infarction group and 16.8% in the control group. In the myocardial infarction group, 17% were hospitalized for diabetes. The control group was 14.3%. In addition, serious bleeding occurred in 19% of the myocardial infarction group and 18.4% of the control group, cerebrovascular disease occurred in 12.5% of the myocardial infarction group and 11.6% of the control group, and peripheral artery disease occurred in 6.5% of the myocardial infarction group and 4.06% of the control group. All-cause mortality was 37.8% in the myocardial infarction group and 35.5% in the control group.
The incidence of depression was also higher in myocardial infarction at 8.9% than in the control group at 6%. Women had a greater risk of depression than men, and women who had suffered a myocardial infarction at a young age had a particularly high risk of depression. When a myocardial infarction occurred, 21.5% of women under the age of 40 were hospitalized for depression. Men accounted for 11.5%. However, the cancer incidence rate in the myocardial infarction group was 13.5%, which was significantly lower than the 21.5% in the control group. It is unclear whether there is a specific reason for the lower risk of cancer after myocardial infarction, and further research is needed, the researchers said.
There was little overall difference in the incidence of dementia. However, the incidence of vascular dementia was slightly higher in the myocardial infarction group at 2.3% than in the control group at 2.1%. The research team said that the overall results could be valuable information for survivors of myocardial infarction as it tells them what their risk of developing certain diseases is in the future and will help them deal with them in consultation with their doctors.
The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the online scientific journal ‘Public Science Library – Medicine’ (PLoS Medicine).