Patients with mitral regurgitation often suffer stress-related symptoms such as depression and anxiety. But these problems can disappear after surgery to correct the condition, a new study shows.

Mitral regurgitation occurs when the heart’s mitral valve doesn’t close tightly, allowing some blood to flow backward in the heart.

Earlier studies found that 1 in 4 people with mitral regurgitation suffer from a condition known as PES, or poor psycho-emotional status, which includes elevated anxiety and traumatic stress levels.

Such an emotional state can result in problems such as shortness of breath and fatigue, the researchers noted.

The researchers wanted to learn how undergoing mitral valve repair would affect the emotional status of such patients, so they administered questionnaires relating to emotional status and lifestyle quality to 131 patients who were slated to undergo the surgery and compared the results with 62 patients who did not have surgery, as well as 36 patients without the condition.

Prior to surgery, the mitral regurgitation patients ranked their emotional status and quality of life poorer than the other two groups. But six months later, their emotional state had risen to levels comparable to patients without the condition.

The patients with mitral regurgitation who did not undergo surgery experienced no improvement.

The researchers also looked at patients with early stage mitral regurgitation, which does not show symptoms.

Although surgery is generally reserved for patients in later stages of the disease, the researchers found that patients who underwent it earlier experienced an improvement in their emotional well-being, and therefore earlier surgery should not be ruled out.