Depression common in heart patients

Depression is common among people suffering from heart failure. About 1 in 5 people suffering from heart failure become clinically depressed.Researchers from the Denver Health Medical Center, in Colorado, USA found that depressive symptoms in patients with heart failure are strongly associated with a decline in health status and an increase in the risk of hospitalisation and death.Researchers examined social, demographic and clinical factors associated with the onset of depression in 245 heart failure patients who were not depressed in the beginning.It was found that 52 (21 per cent) of the study participants developed symptoms of depression after 1 year. Depressed patients were more likely to live alone, find medical care a severe economic burden, have a history of alcohol abuse, and to have worse heart failure scores as compared to those without depression. Only 8 per cent of patients with none of these risk factors developed significant symptoms of depression. Among those with one risk factor, 15 per cent became depressed. For those with two or three risk factors, the rate increased to 36 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively. None of the patients had all four risk factors.Future studies are needed to evaluate whether interventions aimed at the prevention and treatment of depression in heart patients will improve outcomes.