Study: More Evidence Depression Is Hard On The Heart

WASHINGTON — Severe depression may silently break a seemingly healthy woman's heart. Doctors have long known that depression is common after a heart attack or stroke, and worsens those people's outcomes. Monday, Columbia University researchers reported new evidence that depression can lead to heart disease in the first place.

The scientists tracked 63,000 women from the long-running Nurses' Health Study between 1992 and 2004. None had signs of heart disease when the study began, but nearly 8 percent had evidence of serious depression.

The depressed women were more than twice as likely to experience sudden cardiac death _ death typically caused by an irregular heartbeat, concluded the 12-year study, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. They also had a smaller increased risk of death from other forms of heart disease.

The big surprise: Sudden cardiac death seemed more closely linked with antidepressant use than with the depression symptoms the women reported.

That might simply mean that women who used antidepressants were, appropriately, the most seriously depressed, cautioned lead researcher Dr. William Whang. But he said the finding merited more research.

Studies of the newer antidepressants most often used today so far haven't signaled a risk of irregular heartbeat, and some even have suggested protection, noted Dr. Redford Williams of Duke University, a specialist in how psychosocial factors affect health.

The drug question aside, Williams said the work adds to growing evidence that depression is an independent risk factor for heart disease _ on top of the classic risks of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and smoking.

The predominantly white Nurses' Health Study may underestimate it, Williams said. "If anything, the impact in African-American women is probably greater," he said, adding that it's time for the next step: A study testing whether properly treating depression lowers the risk.

Why might depression have that effect? The study found that the more severe the women's reported depression symptoms, the more likely she was to have traditional heart risk factors. Also, stresses like depression have been linked to such physical effects as a higher resting heart rate.

Perhaps a more straightforward reason: Depression can make people do a worse job taking care of themselves. Indeed, the American Heart Association last year recommended that everyone who already has heart disease be regularly screened for depression _ because depressed patients may skip their medications, sit indoors instead of exercising, and eat particularly poorly.

Comments

[RobinRBS]

I have been a nurse for over 20 years. For years I have been an advocate for treating mental health issues along with cardiac disease, diabetes, and any other disease. Having been in cardiac care for many of those years it is well known that after heart surgery many people can become depressed. Situational depression can come with any serious illness. However, depression is a serious illness in and of itself and needs to be treated as such. Our brain is an organ just like our heart, liver and. kidneys are. Yet doctors seem reluctant to deal with depression when treating for other maladies. it's as if the patient is supposed to diagnose their depression themselves and seek treatment. Depression can alter our perceptions and outlook so some people may not realize their depression even exists. It is much less likely that patients will follow any treatment regime for their other diseases when depressed. They may not take medications, may miss appointments or may engage in destructive coping skills. Yet insurance companies often pay poorly for limited mental health treatment if at all. So, if doctors don't recognize and treat depression and insurance won't pay for treatment even if they do, then the patient's ability to participate in their own care in a healthy mental state is compromised. The prognosis for their diabetes, heart disease or other illness may become worse. They get sicker, more depressed, families struggle to cope and ultimately health care costs rise. Does this make sense?

[askmeificare]

Our tax dollars at work.

[firelord5000]

Thanks for studying something everyone with a brain cell knows, next we'll be studying sex alleviates stress, AGAIN.

[JZ735]

Yes, more money wasted on useless studies that intuitively anyone should know the results.

[fcsakes]

Another study linking depression to heart disease - this is like adding 2+2. What would make anyone think depression WASN'T linked to heart disease?

Who paid for the study and what NEW thing did we learn?

[askmeificare]

We paid for that one.

[JZ735]

Pathetic that someone wasted money on this nonsense.

[aFlyoverPerson]

Sorry that link didn't go in right. May need to paste it into your browser.

[aFlyoverPerson]

The cause/effect relationship described here may be backwards. There is evidence that a blocked carotid may cause depression and alleviating the blockage improves the depression symptoms. But as noted in the last paragraph, simply getting through the procedure and feeling better may help, too.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Freeing+up+the+flow:+clearing+neck-artery+blockage+diminishes+signs...-a0149508733

[tchoupitoulav]

Don't we already know this??????????

[mckinley]

Speaking as someone who has suffered from clinical depression, and had a heart attack at 44...

Duh