Glenn N. Levine, M.D., FAHA, master clinician and professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, chief of the cardiology section at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, both in Houston and chair of the writing committee for the AHA Scientific Statement: Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection, offers perspective (via Zoom) on EPI Lifestyle 2021 presentation MP28.
copyright American Heart Association 2021

"I think this is important because if you look at our scientific statement on psychological health and the heart, it's clear that many facets of negative psychological health clearly impact heart disease and heart prognosis. And certainly this adds additional information, that we should consider factors such as loneliness and social isolation. In our scientific statement, we suggested that certainly we understand that clinic time is very busy and there are a lot of things to address, but certainly at least being mindful of the patient's mental health. And certainly if there are any clues or suggestions during your interactions with them that they could be depressed, they could be down, they could feel isolated, it's worth at least a minute or two of very casual, careful discussion, at least gently inquiring whether they may have some mental health issues or not. And if so, possibly exploring ways to address them with mental health professionals."