DEPRESSION: Heart of the Matter
Linking depression to anticipated heart attacks
BY:MYRA DEMBROW
The link between depression and other medical conditions is becoming more evident, causing researchers to ask medical specialists to include depression screening and treatment as part of their routine care. Scientists in Holland, for example, recently confirmed that depression contributes to a poor prognosis after a heart attack. They also found that patients who had their first episode of depression after a heart attack were much more likely to have a second coronary episode.The Dutch team, whose study was reported in the December 5, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, followed 468 patients for an average of two and a half years. Compared to patients who had never been depressed, the rate of second heart attacks was 65 percent higher among those who became depressed for the first time after their first attack, and 12 percent higher for those who had a history of depression.
"Antidepressive treatment should be integrated into cardiac after-care and made a prominent part of the rehabilitation program," says lead researcher Peter de Jonge, PhD, of the department of psychiatry at the University Medical Center, Groningen, the Netherlands.