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Moderators of the relationship between depression and cardiovascular disorders: a systematic review

Bernhard T Baune1, Michael Stuart, Ashley Gilmour

  • 1Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. bernhard.baune@adelaide.edu.au

General Hospital Psychiatry
|July 10, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Clinical factors like depression severity and sociodemographic elements such as income significantly moderate the link between depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Further research is needed to clarify these complex interactions.

Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry and Cardiology
  • Public Health
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • A bidirectional link between depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is recognized, involving biological pathways.
  • The influence of clinical and sociodemographic factors on this relationship is not well-understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review how clinical and sociodemographic variables moderate the interrelationship between depressive disorders and CVD.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review of MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases.
  • Inclusion of 101 articles after exclusion criteria were applied.

Main Results:

  • Depression severity, episode frequency, and duration appear to moderate the depression-CVD link.
  • Marital status, education, and income also show a moderating role.
  • Methodological variations across studies lead to some inconsistent findings.

Conclusions:

  • Clinical characteristics of depression and sociodemographic factors act as moderators in the depression-CVD relationship.
  • Future research should integrate these factors with depression subtypes and biomarkers.
  • Findings can inform clinical decision-making for managing patients with co-occurring depression and CVD.
Abstract

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