Two new studies suggest that missed medications and elevated stress hormone levels might help explain the link between depression and poor outcomes in coronary heart disease patients.
“Patients with depression are more likely to suffer heart attacks and heart failure, and more likely to die of heart disease, and no one knows why. These results give us two intriguing clues: one behavioral, one biological,” Dr. Mary Whooley, a staff physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the principal investigator of both studies, said in a prepared statement.
One study examined the association between depression and self-reported adherence to medication in 940 patients with stable coronary heart disease. Of those patients, 204 had been diagnosed with depression.
The study found that 14% of the depressed patients reported they didn’t take their medications as prescribed over a 30-day period, compared with 5% of the non-depressed patients. The study appears in the November 28th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
In results of the second study, involving more than 600 people with coronary heart disease, it was found that the more depressive symptoms a patient had, the higher their levels of the stress hormone norepinephrine. Dr. Whooley said neither study indicates a mechanism for poor coronary outcomes, but both suggest further studies.
© Copyright 2007 Insight Journal Online Magazine.
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