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Study examines prevalence of chest pain in patients 1 year after heart attack 

Nearly one in five patients experiences chest pain one year after having a heart attack, according to a report in the June 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. . . .

Patients with one-year chest pain were also more likely to continue smoking, to undergo revascularization (surgery to reestablish blood flow to the heart) after hospitalization and to have significant new, persistent or fleeting depressive symptoms.

"Multiple factors were associated with one-year angina, including demographic, clinical, inpatient and outpatient characteristics. Recognition of these relationships will be important in monitoring at-risk patients after acute myocardial infarction," the authors conclude. "In addition, future investigation into modifiable factors, such as depression and smoking cessation, will be important in the quest to alleviate angina and improve subsequent cardiac outcomes among patients after myocardial infarction."

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