Depression

Depression May Predict Heart Disease in Women Under 55

The risk of heart attack, mortality, and procedures that require opening arteries is twice as likely to occur in women who are 55 years and younger, according to researchers of a recent study.

“Women in this age group are also more likely to have depression, so this may be one of the ‘hidden’ risk factors that can help explain why women die at a disproportionately higher rate than men after a heart attack,” said Amit Shah, MD, MSCR, study author and assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University.
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The study monitored 3237 participants for depression symptoms over a 3-year follow-up period. Of the patients with heart disease (or suspected of heart disease), 34% were women with a mean age of about 63 years.

Each participant was scheduled for a coronary angiography, which identifies disease in the arteries that pump blood to the heart.

The results:

  • Women age 55 and older were 2.45 times more likely to die from any cause during the follow-up period if they had moderate or severe depression.
  • Women 55 and younger were 2.17 times more likely to suffer a heart attack, need an artery-opening procedure, or die of heart disease if they had moderate or severe depression.
  • In women 55 and younger, each 1-point increase of depressive correlated to a 7% increase in presence of heart disease.

Note: In men and women over 55, depression didn’t predict heart disease.

The complete study is published in the June issue of JAHA.

-Michelle Canales

References:

Shah AJ, Ghasemzadeh N, Zaragoza-Macias E. Sex and age differences in the association of depression with obstructive coronary artery disease and adverse cardiovascular events. JAHA. 2014 June 18 [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1161/ JAHA.113.000741.

American Heart Association Newsroom. Depression linked to higher heart disease death risk in younger women [press release]. June 18, 2014. http://newsroom.heart.org/news/depression-linked-to-higher-heart-disease-death-risk-in-younger-women. Accessed June 19, 2014.