Anxiety may
give you a heart attack
Patients with heart disease who
have anxiety have twice the risk of dying from any cause compared to those
without anxiety, a new study has revealed.
Researchers said that patients with both anxiety and depression have tripled the risk of dying.
"Many studies have linked depression to an increased risk of death in heart disease patients. However, anxiety hasn't received as much attention," Lana Watkins, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C said.
Researchers said that patients with both anxiety and depression have tripled the risk of dying.
"Many studies have linked depression to an increased risk of death in heart disease patients. However, anxiety hasn't received as much attention," Lana Watkins, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C said.
Studies show that depression is about three times more common in heart attack patients.
The American Heart Association recommends that heart patients be screened for depression and treated if necessary.
Depressed heart disease patients often also have anxiety, suggesting it may underlie the risk previously attributed solely to depression, Watkins said.
"It's now time for anxiety to be considered as important as depression, and for it to be examined carefully," she said.
Anxiety and depression each influence risk of death in unique ways.
Anxiety, for example, increases activity of the sympathetic (adrenaline-producing) nervous system that controls blood pressure.
"People who worry a lot are more likely to have difficulty sleeping and to develop high blood pressure," Watkins said.
The link between depression and mortality is more related to behavioral risk factors, she said.
Future studies should test strategies to manage anxiety alone and with depression in heart disease patients, Watkins said.
The research is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
21.03.2013
Only 21 percent foreign-educated doctors can practice
in India: Azad
Only 21.76 percent of Indian
doctors trained abroad have qualified to practice in the country, parliament
was informed on Tuesday. A total of 14,476 doctors who completed their medical
degrees abroad appeared for the screening test during the year 2012 out of
which 3,150 candidates or 21.76 percent qualified the test, Health Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. As per information
provided by the National Board of Examinations (NBE), which conducts the
screening test, the government has received few representations regarding
review of the existing system. The screening test has been introduced in
accordance with the Screening Test Regulations, 2002, notified by the Medical
Council of India (MCI) in order to ascertain that citizens of India obtaining
medical qualification from universities or medical institutions abroad have
acquired adequate knowledge and skill as per norms of the MCI.
The Supreme Court in its
judgment of Nov 16, 2004, has upheld screening test regulations as well as the
scheme of examination. As such, the government is not considering review of
screening test at present, Azad said.
Source: http://health.india.com
21.03.2013
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