Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACK GROUND:
Psychiatric disorders and coronary heart disease are not uncommonly seen together in the same patient especially in association with myocardial infarction these disorders vary from simple anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder.
OBJECTIVE:
Studying the depressive disorders in the Iraqi cardiac patients and its prevalence after April 2003. and trying to ascertain any mispractice in management of such patients by ignoring the psychiatric cause.
METHODS:
260 patients admitted to Baghdad teaching hospital medical departments over the period December 2005- October 2007. Those patients were having cither stable angina unstable angina and myocardial infraction. A uniform questionnaire was used for all patients to find out the prevalence any psychiatric disorders.
RESULTS:
This study showed the presence of depression during the pre and post cardiac events in 70 cases (27%) anxiety was also a very common problem in about 60 cases (23%), however the percentage of patients whom were had psychiatric disorders after an acute events due to un settled security in the country since 2003 were as follow depression (21% cases 8%) from the total number of cases respectively.
CONCLUSION:
Psychiatric disorders are becoming a common problem in many Iraqi cardiac patients because of the difficulties of their daily life since 2003 and it represents about 50% of the cases of psychiatrics disorders. This may make it an important issue to use antidepressant drugs in many of those patients