Heart patients who become depressed have a higher risk of developing heart failure, regardless of whether they take antidepressants, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They said the study is the first to look at whether depression raises the risk for heart failure, a chronic condition affecting 5 million Americans in which the heart gradually loses its ability to pump blood efficiently.
“Our data suggest that depression is an important and emerging risk factor for heart failure among patients with coronary heart disease,” Heidi May of Intermountain Medical Center in Utah, whose study appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, said in a statement.
Prior studies have shown that depression is about three times more common after a heart attack and depressed patients are at higher risk of a second heart attack.
