Increase in observed mental health difficulties one year after acute coronary syndrome: general practitioner survey.

BACKGROUND General practitioners (GPs) are often the first to assess mental health difficulties after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). AIMS To determine whether GPs observed an increase in mental health difficulties one-year post-hospitalisation for ACS. METHODS Postal survey. RESULTS GPs rated patients (n = 442) as having probable (GP assessed 10%) or definite (formally assessed 7%) mental health difficulties pre-hospitalisation. Post-hospitalisation the prevalence of probable cases increased significantly to 19% (OR = 4.3, 95% CI 2.1-10.2, P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, only smoking at index hospitalisation was associated with being assessed as a new case of probable/formal mental health difficulties (RR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.3-3.4, P = 0.003). Forty-seven percent of cases were prescribed some medication for this problem. CONCLUSIONS GPs recorded a significant increase in mental health difficulties in ACS patients 12 months after hospitalisation, with smoking used as an indicator of new cases.