Search is Powered by Google
Follow us on:
Follow our health news on Twitter
Follow Our News on Facebook
Personalization
login | register
Heart Disease News

Treating Depression Reduces Risk Of Heart Disease

Main Category: Heart Disease
Also Included In: Depression;  Psychology / Psychiatry;  Mental Health
Article Date: 19 Jul 2008 - 0:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article


Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:3 stars

3 (2 votes)

Health Professional:4 and a half stars

4.5 (2 votes)

Article Opinions: 0 posts

Patients suffering from major depression are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, but treating these patients with medication can greatly reduce the risk, according to new findings by researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The results of their study are published in the July 16 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers specifically studied the stress-hemoconcentration, which is a blood chemistry work-up that includes a blood cell count, hematocrit values, hemoglobin, total serum protein, and albumin. The stress-hemoconcentration increases during psychological stress, such as that caused by depression, and the increase is a risk factor for heart disease.

"We studied 146 outpatient depressed patients against controls from the same Mexican-American Los Angeles community," said Ma-Li Wong, M.D., professor and vice chair for translational research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Miller School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "We took blood from all the participants at the start of the trial, and we found increased measures of stress-hemoconcentration in the mild to moderately depressed patients. Basically, when you are stressed out your blood becomes thicker than normal and thickened blood can put you at higher risk for a heart attack or stroke." All of the participants then completed eight weeks of a randomized, double-blind trial of antidepressant treatment with either desipramine or fluoxetine (PROZAC). Blood was drawn from all participants at the end of the eight-week treatment.

"After the treatment phase we found the measures of stress-hemoconcentration to be improved and they correlated with an improvement in depression symptoms," said Wong. "Our findings suggest that reducing the stress-hemoconcentration in depressed patients through antidepressant treatment could reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease."

The study took place while Dr. Wong and Dr. Julio Licinio were at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
www.med.miami.edu

View drug information on Prozac Weekly.





Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Hemophilia Opioid Induced Constipation Pneumococcal Disease ADHD Anxiety Asthma Atrial Fibrillation Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Please fill in our survey

Swine Flu Image

Swine Flu Updates

- Latest Swine Flu News
- What is Swine Flu?
- Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
- Swine Flu - Top 20 FAQ
- Daily Email News Alerts
Stick with Medical News Today for the latest news updates on swine flu.


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
What Is Low Blood Pressure? What Is Hypotension?
03 Aug 2009
Low blood pressure is also known as hypotension. For millions of people who suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure) hypotension may seem great. If symptoms are mild hypotension usually requires no treatment...


Cholesterol Management image Cholesterol Management

Each year more than a million Americans have heart attacks. High cholesterol can form a blockage in the arteries and lead to heart disease. Lifestyle changes and adherence to a treatment plan are important for cholesterol management...

Cholesterol Management image Cholesterol Management

Each year more than a million Americans have heart attacks. High cholesterol can form a blockage in the arteries and lead to heart disease. Lifestyle changes and adherence to a treatment plan are important for cholesterol management...

View more videos...