Psychosis, depression, and high risk for sudden cardiac death: time for co-operation between psychiatrists and cardiologists

Abstract

This editorial refers to ‘Psychotropic medications and the risk of sudden cardiac death during an acute coronary event’, by J. Honkola et al. , doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehr368 Psychiatric patients have an excess rate of unexplained sudden death.1 Some studies have linked this to the disease itself and to an increased prevalence of other risk factors such as dyslipidaemia and diabetes in this population.2 However, a number of observations have suggested that the use of antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs might be at the root of these deaths.3⇓ Figure 1 The triangle of sudden death in psychiatric patients. The work coming from the University of Oulu4 can bring some clarity to this debate. Is this a population at higher risk for sudden cardiac death who should be screened and treated accordingly, or is the treatment they …