NEW ORLEANS -- Heart failure patients who develop clinical depression have a significantly worse survival than those who are not depressed, found a large record review.
NEW ORLEANS, March 25 -- Heart failure patients who develop clinical depression have a significantly worse survival than those who are not depressed, according to a large Italian record review.
The retrospective review of records of 18,623 heart failure patients found that the 12.3% also diagnosed with depression had an adjusted annual risk of death that was 28% higher than for those not depressed (HR=1.28, 95% confidence interval 1.12-1.47, PHeart failure in his study was defined as either chronic heart failure diagnosis at the hospital or chronic heart failure treatment with any combination of cardiac medications, including ACE inhibitors, digoxin, furosemide, carvedilol, spironolactone or angiotensin receptor blockers.