Depression link to mortality in heart failure
Depression, but not antidepressant use, is associated with increased mortality in patients with heart failure, a prospective study has indicated.
Researchers from Duke University Medical Centre, North Carolina, collected
data from over 1,000 patients admitted to hospital with heart failure
between March 1997 and June 2003. The patients were followed up for an
average of two years and seven months.
During follow up, 42.7 per cent of the patients died. Overall, antidepressant
use was associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio, 1.32; 95 per cent
confidence interval, 1.03–1.69, P=0.029). However, the association disappeared
after controlling for the presence of depression (1.20, 0.84–1.71).
Study author Wei Jiang said: “It can be impractical to make sure every
patient with heart failure sees a psychiatrist. That is why it is so important
to improve the knowledge and confidence of non-psychiatric professionals for
care of depression.”
The data were presented earlier this week at the annual
scientific sessions of
the American Heart Association held in Chicago. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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