Depressed mood is significantly related to increased mortality risk among people with congestive heart failure, say the results of a new study conducted in a Norwegian hospital outpatient cardiology practice. Patients who were deemed to have "severe depression" were approximately four times as likely to die within two years after they entered the study than those who were classified as "not depressed."
"This study has important implications for the treatment of congestive heart failure patients," said Terje A. Murberg, M.Sc., the lead researcher. "The results suggest that health professionals should be especially alert to depression in congestive heart failure patients and should strive to provide appropriate treatment for depression when needed."
Participants in the study included 119 clinically stable patients with congestive heart failure who attended the outpatient practice at the Central Hospital in Rogaland, Stavanger, Norway. The patients' average age was 66, and the average time since onset of heart failure was 61 months. Just over half of the patients (55.5 percent) were retired. Fifteen percent of the patients were employed, and 29.4 percent were on sick leave or not working permanently because of disability. Twenty of the patients died during the two-year data collection period, all from cardiac causes.
Few studies have focused on the effect of depression on mortality among congestive heart failure patients, the investigators note. This study shows a significant association, even when controlling for the severity of the disease. Therefore, the researchers recommend that further research be conducted on the mechanisms linking depressed mood and mortality in heart failure patients. The results of the study appear in the current issue of the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine.
The researchers evaluated each study participant for depressive symptoms; emotional problems related to congestive heart failure; the patient'
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Contact: Terje A. Murberg, M.Sc.
terje.a.murberg@hs.his.no
47-518-34-100
Center for the Advancement of Health
31-Oct-1999