Simple drawings by heart attack victims of what they believe has happened to their heart may be an important diagnostic tool to aid their recovery, research at The University of Auckland has shown.
The study, carried out by researchers at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, shows that patient drawings can give a better prediction of their long-term recovery than medical diagnosis of the damage.
PhD student Elizabeth Broadbent, who led the study, says the drawings are important because a patient’s own ideas about what has happened to their heart seem to strongly influence their recovery and return to normal activities.
“It seems that by asking a patient to draw what they think has happened, we may be able to quickly identify and correct any misconceptions they have about their illness and recovery.
“A heart attack victim’s early ideas about their illness seems to set the trajectory for their recovery. Patients who believe their condition will have a major influence on their life are slower to recover and return to normal activities than those patients who believe their illness is more controllable. And from our study it seems that pictures are a very good way of identifying these feelings.”
In the study 74 patients who had been hospitalised with acute heart attacks were asked to fill in a questionnaire and draw pictures of what they believe had happened to their hearts just before discharge.
The researchers also recorded their levels of a key heart enzyme which indicates how much heart muscle has been damaged in a heart attack.
A follow-up three months later showed that those who had drawn damage on their hearts were slower to return to normal activities, seemed to feel less in control over their recovery and were more distressed about their condition.