A 3-year long study of 5,000 patients suffering from moderate to severe depression showed that patients treated with antidepressants had slower rates of death, coronary heart diseases and strokes in comparison to patients who did not.
Doctors from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, UT said that the connection seemed to be stronger for treating extreme cases of depression rather than the use of statin drugs for reducing risks of cardiovascular diseases.
The data of over 26,000 patients treated over the course of 3 years will be presented at the annual conference of American College of Cardiology.
It was found that 20% of the patients suffered moderate to severe depression while the remaining 21,517 did not demonstrate signs of depression in a 9 question depression screening test, accept for mild depressions.
The assessment was carried out on the basis of habits of sleep, appetite and mood to determine the level of depression.
Heidi May PhD, lead author of the study and a public health scientist, says “This study demonstrates the importance of evaluating patients for depression, not only in terms of improving their mood, but reducing their risk for heart disease.”
The analysis of rates of death, coronary artery disease and stroke against levels of depression and its right treatment demonstrated that patients with moderate to severe level of depression who consumed antidepressants had a lower risk of the 3 incidents in the duration of the study. This was measured against the patients with the same depression level but did not intake antidepressants or statins.
Dr. May says “Antidepressants were not associated with a reduced cardiovascular risk in people with little or no depression, but in moderately to severely depressed people, antidepressants were shown to significantly improve cardiovascular outcomes.”
The results also reflected that there was a superior protected effect when the patients with severe depression were treated with antidepressants compared to the addition of statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs which handles cardiovascular risk directly.
Even though this study was not for the purpose of analyzing a direct correlation, moderate to severely depressed patients in-taking antidepressants alone seemed to progress better than ones taking the statins alone or additionally with some other mental health medication.
“We thought we’d see an additive effect,” Dr. May says. The researchers found, however, “that in the more depressed people, the antidepressant really was what made the biggest difference.”
Dr. May believes treating depression consequences in behavioral changes that could explain the associations recommended by the limited epidemiological study.
She proposes: “Antidepressants might have relevant physiological benefits, but I also think the behavioral changes that improve a person’s mood can also improve cardiovascular health.”
“This study demonstrates the importance of evaluating patients for depression, not only in terms of improving their mood, but reducing their risk for heart disease.”
The study, being limited to data from medical records, could identify other factors that might have explained the association with drug treatment for depression, including physical activity, changes in lifestyle habits, or nondrug mental health treatments such as counseling.
The study will be presented on March 15th at the 64th annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology in San Diego, CA.
