On Monday, a guidelines released by the American Heart Association showed that heart patients should be checked for depression because the heart disease can mix up a common complication of depression which can easily produce a second heart attack.

Depressed heart patients are more likely to die of a second heart attack and as the guidelines showed, these patients reflect growing evidence that depression can cause other heart attacks. Judith Lichtman of Yale University School of Medicine, stated that "studies show that depression is about three times more common in patients following a heart attack than in the general community."

In a statement she added that "because there has been no routine screening for depression in heart patients, we think there is a large group of people who could benefit from appropriate treatment." According to the statistics showing this kind of death, more research is needed to understand why heart patients are developing depressions so easily.

Other studies show that depressed patients who have suffered heart attacks are more likely to stop taking their drugs and less likely to continue with their diets and regular exercise. Depressions can also reduce heart rate and increase the formation of blood clots.

 The American Heart Association recommends more scanning and observing of heart patients so they can be easily evaluated by a mental health professional and treated for any kind of mental disorder.