Australian researchers have found that depressed cardiac patients are likely to be readmitted to the hospital and stay there longer.

The researchers from the University of Newcastle, including Alyna Turner of the Heart Research Centre, recommended that people with heart problems should be kept emotionally healthy.

Turner claimed that the emotional sides of heart disease are being neglected in the health system.

The study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry said cardiac patients should seek help if they take six months to recover from the grief and changed circumstances after a heart attack.

Depression and anxiety will not only impact on their quality of life but may also make patients less likely to do things that can help their recovery, such as exercise, Turner was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Meanwhile, Chris Stapelberg of Griffith University learned in his own research that there are physiological signs in cardiac patients suffering depression. He said they have thicker blood, which trigger immune and nervous system response.

Stapelberg said such indicator requires more routine screening for depression.