Personal characteristics predictive of depressive symptoms in Hispanics with heart failure

Depression is a significant problem in heart failure (HF). The purposes of this study were to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Hispanics with HF and to examine the personal characteristics predicting depressive symptoms at baseline and at 6-months follow-up in a telephone case management intervention. In this secondary data analysis based on 87 subjects, patient characteristics hypothesized to influence depressive symptoms included age, gender, education, living situation, co-morbidity, social support, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, and acculturation. DSM-IV major depression was present in 39.1% (n = 35) of the participants at baseline and 1.1% (n = 1) at the 6-month follow-up. In regression analysis, factors associated with depressive symptoms at baseline were gender and NYHA class. At 6-month follow-up, acculturation, co-morbidity, and NYHA were significantly related to the presence of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were highly prevalent in Hispanics with HF. Easily identifiable personal characteristics can be useful in designing interventions to reduce depression associated with HF.