Late-life depression and cardiovascular disease burden: examination of reciprocal relationship

Empirical studies of the relationship between depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) tend to be limited to examination of one-way relationships. This study assessed both cross-sectional association and longitudinal reciprocal relationships between late-life depressive symptoms and CVD.

The National Health and Aging Trends Study waves 1 (T1) and 2 (T2, one year later) provided the data. The study sample (N = 5,414) represented Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older. We fit structural equation models to examine: 1) cross-sectional association between depression and CVD at each wave; and 2) longitudinal reciprocal relationship between T1 depression and T2 CVD and between T1 CVD and T2 depression.

At T1, 28.6% reported a CVD diagnosis, and at T2, 4.9% reported having had a new diagnosis or new episode of heart attack or heart disease and 2.2% reported having had a stroke since T1. In addition to significant cross-sectional relationships between depression and CVD, T1 CVD had significant impact on T2 depressive symptoms, and T1 depressive symptoms had significant impact on T2 CVD, with a 1-point increase in depressive symptom score increasing the odds of having a new CVD diagnosis or episode by 21%.

The care of older adults with CVD and/or depression needs to include interventions focusing on lifestyle and psychological factors that can reduce risks for both CVD and depression. Depression prevention and treatment also needs to be an integral part of CVD prevention and management.