Depression suspected as risk factor for heart disease
29 August 2003
Evidence is mounting for treating depression in heart patients, following a US study that showed depression increased the risk of premature death in people who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
(CABG is a surgical treatment for people who have narrowed blood vessels around the heart.)
People who had moderate to severe depression were at twice the risk of dying during the average 5-year follow-up period compared to those who were not depressed.
But mildly depressed patients were at no greater risk, unless that depression lasted longer than 6 months (Lancet 2003; 362:604-09).
Professor Chris Tennant, psychiatry professor at the University of Sydney, said these findings added to the growing amount of evidence showing that depression was a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
'Any patient with underlying cardiovascular disease should be checked for depression and that depression should be treated like a risk factor, much the same way that hypertension [high blood pressure] or hypercholesterolaemia [high cholesterol] would be treated.'
The study involved 817 patients with a mean age of 61 years who were about to undergo CABG surgery. More than a quarter (26 per cent) had mild depression, while 12 per cent had moderate to severe depression.
Both those who had persistent depression and those with moderate to severe depression recorded an increased mortality risk. But those who were depressed before surgery and remitted during the 6 months after surgery were at no greater risk than non-depressed patients.
Last Reviewed: 29 August 2003
- 1. Medical Observer Weekly 29/8/03
