Heart attack doesn’t have to be a killer when doctors talk to the patient

Heart attack patients halve their risk of a second attack and death if doctors talk to them, play them music or help them pray.
“Coronary heart disease is not just physical but also has a psychological component,” says Dr Zoi Aggelopoulou, who has researched the survival of heart attack patients in her coronary care unit in Athens. She had noticed that patients at her hospital were less likely to suffer a second attack, die or return to the hospital if doctors talked to them about their treatment, played music for them or helped religious patients say their prayers.
She decided to look deeper and she analysed nine previous studies that had evaluated the benefits of psychological interventions on heart patients. She discovered that the studies backed up her observations: a psychological intervention reduced the risk of death and a second attack by 55 per cent over a two-year period.
(Source: Proceedings of the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013, Madrid, Spain, 12-14 October 2013)

What do you think? Start a conversation over on the... WDDTY Community