Depression in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease
The National Heart Foundation of Australia offer a practical easy to use 9 item tool for screening Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
The benefits of treating depression in people with coronary heart disease (CHD) include improved quality of life, improved adherence to other therapies and potentially improved CHD outcomes with a possible reduction of future CHD events.
Glozier and associates note the concerns around social isolation after myocardial infarction being associated with an adverse prognosis.
Acute emotional stress may also trigger myocardial infarction or takotsubo (stress – triggered by emotional stress, such as the death of a loved one, a break-up, or constant anxiety, it is also known as ‘broken-heart syndrome’), but the absolute increase in transient risk from an individual stressor is low. Both perceived chronic job strain and shift work are associated with a small absolute increased risk of developing CHD.
Glozier N, Tofler GH, Colquhoun DM, et al. Psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease. Medical Journal of Australia 2013; 199 (3): 179-180.
The benefits of treating depression in people with coronary heart disease (CHD) include improved quality of life, improved adherence to other therapies and potentially improved CHD outcomes with a possible reduction of future CHD events.