A study from the Royal Brompton in 2002. [1] The authors retrospectively examined a cohort of 396 consecutive adult patients with a dilated cardiomyopathy. In all, 83 patients (21%) were clinically depressed, the majority of which (60%) were taking antidepressant therapy. After a follow-up period of 48 months, 83 (21%) patients died, 15 (4%) underwent…
This is a meta-analysis from 2006. [1] The authors identified 36 publications that were analysed. Clinically significant depression was present in 21.5% of HF patients, and varied by the use of questionnaires versus diagnostic interview (33.6% and 19.3%, respectively) and New York Heart Association–defined HF severity (11% in class I vs. 42% in class IV).…
This is study from England which was published in 2016. [1] The authors investigated the impact of psychiatric comorbidities on length of stay (LoS) amongst 31,760 heart failurre patients admitted to hospitals in North England between 1st January 2000 and 31st March 2013. Mean LoS in the absence of psychiatric comorbidities was 11.2 days. The…
This is an American study analysing admissions data of 160,169 patients admitted between 2009 and 2011 with a diagnosis of HF, AMI, or pneumonia. [1] Approximately 18% of all individuals with hospitalizations for HF, AMI, and pneumonia were readmitted within 30 days. The rate of readmission was 5% greater for individuals with psychiatric comorbidity compared…
