Treating Depression Reduces Risk Of Heart Disease

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

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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