Depressed Heart Patients More Likely to Die

A study has found that patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and with major depression appear twice as likely as those not depressed to die or be re-admitted to the hospital within 12 months. Conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC, USA), the study was published in the August 13, 2001, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

The Duke researchers screened consecutive CHF patients admitted during a 15-month period and found that of the 357 screened, 35.3% had some symptoms of depression, with 13.9% diagnosed with major depression. CHF patients who weren't depressed had mortality rates of 5.7% at three months and 13.7% at one year. However, for those with major depression, the death rates jumped to 13% at three months and 16.1% at one year.

As for hospital re-admissions, 36.5% of the nondepressed patients were re-admitted within three months, and 52.3% at one year. For those with major depression, the rates increased to 52.2% at three months, and 80.4% at one year. "If more cardiologists considered the impact of depression on their heart failure patients and treated the depression, the outcomes for these patients might improve,” said Dr. Wei Jiang, author of the study.

The task will be a challenge, Dr. Jiang noted, since most CHF patients take as many as eight different medications per day for their disease, and current anti-depressive medications can interact with them.




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