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Depression increasingly predicts mortality in the course of congestive heart failure

Jana Jünger1, Dieter Schellberg, Thomas Müller-Tasch

  • 1Department of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Heidelberg, INF 410, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Jana_Juenger@med.uni-heidelberg.de

European Journal of Heart Failure
|February 11, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Depression significantly predicts mortality in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. This depression score offers crucial prognostic information, independent of other health factors, aiding in risk assessment.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Clinical Research

Background:

  • Congestive heart failure (CHF) frequently co-occurs with depression.
  • The prognostic impact of depression in CHF patients remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To prospectively evaluate the influence of depression on mortality risk in patients diagnosed with CHF.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) in 209 CHF patients.
  • Followed patients for a mean of 24.8 months to track mortality outcomes.

Main Results:

  • Non-survivors exhibited higher depression scores, NYHA functional class, and lower LVEF and peakVO(2) compared to survivors.
  • The depression score independently predicted mortality in multivariate analysis.
  • Combining depression score with LVEF and peakVO(2) improved risk stratification.

Conclusions:

  • Depression score is a significant independent predictor of mortality in CHF patients not receiving depression treatment.
  • The prognostic value of depression intensifies over time, necessitating its inclusion in risk stratification and therapeutic strategies.
Abstract

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