Depression & Cardiovascular Disease
Key Messages
Depression has been shown to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and severity. This article reviewed research examining the inter-relationship between CVD and depression.
Depression is a risk factor for incident and recurrent coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and heart failure. Poor health behaviors—particularly lack of physical exercise— appear to be critical mediators of this relationship.
Several standard treatments for depression have been shown to be safe in patients with comorbid cardiac disease, with some evidence that such treatments …
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