A recent research has suggested that there could be an increased risk of early death in individuals with both depression and heart disease.
A team of researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA sought to identify the effect of newly diagnosed depression on the mortality risk of patients with an existing heart disease.
They recruited 24,137 patients with an established heart disease (coronary artery disease) and used specific diagnostic tools to ascertain whether they had depression. In about 15% of the patients, a diagnosis of depression was made. Most of these patients were younger in age than those without depression. In addition, the probability of having diabetes, and the presence of depression in the past, was higher in this group.
Of all the patients diagnosed with depression, 27% were diagnosed with depression within a year of the coronary artery disease diagnosis, 24% within 1 to 3 years after the heart disease diagnosis, almost 15% between 3 and 5 years, and almost 37% more than 5 years after the heart event occurred.
Based on this, the researchers suggested that depression after a heart event was a robust predictor of death. In fact, having depression symptoms either soon after, or a few years after being diagnosed with a heart disease doubled the risk of untimely death.
The researchers are of the opinion that doctors should consider thorough evaluation for depression and treat it promptly, even years after the patient has been diagnosed with heart disease.
Source: European Heart Journal: Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes.