Dr. Thomas Maddox and colleagues at the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of Colorado studied the occurrence of angina (episodic chest pain) in 1,957 patients from January 2003 to June 2004.

The study showed of all patients, 389 (19.9 percent) reported angina one year after hospitalization for heart attack. Those patients were more likely to be younger, non-white males with prior chest pain who have undergone prior coronary artery bypass graft surgery and who experienced recurring rest chest pain while hospitalized for heart attack, the researchers said.

Patients with one-year chest pain were also more likely to continue smoking and have significant new, persistent or fleeting depressive symptoms.

"Multiple factors were associated with one-year angina, including demographic, clinical, inpatient and outpatient characteristics. Recognition of these relationships will be important in monitoring at-risk patients after acute myocardial infarction," the authors concluded.

The full study is reported in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.