Depression a Predictor of Coronary Artery Disease Mortality

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found women with coronary artery disease (CAD) may be twice as likely to die if they exhibit symptoms of depression compared to women who did not show such symptoms.

The researchers say after controlling for the effects of age and beating capacity of the heart, depressive symptoms still remained an independent predictor of mortality.


In the study, researchers administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a standard questionnaire used to help diagnose symptoms of depression. Patients with a BDI score of 10 are considered mildly depressed, while patients with scores of 12 to 19 were considered mild to moderately depressed.


After comparing the BDI scores of women at 3.5 years follow-up who died to those who were alive, researchers found that women registering a BDI score of 12 or more were twice as likely to have died when compared to women with a score of 4. The study was presented March 3, 2004 at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS).



REFERENCE LINKS:

Abstracts from the annual meeting can be accessed from the APS website at
psychosomatic/events/abstractsearch/send_request.cfm

A press release on the study is available at news.mc.duke/news/article.php?id=7431




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