Depression in Heart Failure Patients Hits Men Hardest
Depression and reports of having poor quality of life are more likely
in male heart failure patients than in women or men without heart
failure, according to research presented at the American Heart
Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions
2012.
While depression in the general population is more frequent and severe
in women, and in heart failure (HF) patients versus patients without
HF, the emotional impact on men with HF has not been well studied,
especially how depression affects their perceived quality of life.
The researchers screened more than 3,300 patients who were referred to
their medical center for cardiovascular assessment over a one-year
period. In addition to scoring responses to a standardized depression
test, they also administered a quality-of-life questionnaire. They then
examined the scores by gender and diagnosis of HF.
In general, minor and major depression were more frequent in women than
in men (14 percent vs. 8.9 percent), and in HF patients (22 percent
versus 9.6 percent). Quality-of-life scores were also lower in women
and in HF patients. However, the difference in depression and quality
of life scores was more than double for men with HF, compared to all
patients. Women with HF also had higher scores than their non-HF
counterparts, but the difference was significantly less.
Author disclosures and funding information are on the abstracts.
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