Depressed patients are twice as likely to die after heart bypass surgery
Patients who suffer from depression are twice as likely to die within 12 years of undergoing heart bypass surgery compared to those not affected by the illness, claim scientists at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.
The findings, published in The Lancet, suggests that patients should be screened before heart bypass surgery to assess their chances of developing dep- ression and that treating depression in this group of patients could help to cut the risk of death.
During the course of the study, analysts examined the medical records of 817 patients under- going bypass surgery between 1989 and 2001. All the patients were assessed for depression the day before surgery, as well as six months after surgery. Some pat- ients were followed as long as 12 years after surgery, with the average follow-up being 5.2 years. Of the group of patients studied, 38% were assessed as suffering from depression. Specifically, 26% were consid- ered to be mildly depressed and an additional 12% were classed as having mild to moderate depression.
Researchers found that those patients with moderate to severe depression at the time of their surgery - or those with mild depression prior to surgery that persisted for at least six months following surgery - were more than twice as likely to die during the follow-up period.
During the 12-year follow up, 10% of patients who were not depressed died compared to 19% of patients who were persistently depressed, the report said.
"We believe that psychological assessment before and after surgery could be a low-cost and relatively easy way of potentially saving lives," said clinical psychologist James Blumenthal, Ph.D., lead author of the report.
"Despite our advances in surgical and medical manage- ment of patients after coro-nary artery bypass surgery, depression is an important independent predictor of death after surgery and should be carefully monitored and treated if necessary," he said.
