Article Impact Level: HIGH Data Quality: STRONG Summary of European Heart Journal, ehad188. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad188 Dr. Céline El Baou et al.
Points
- People with depression have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD).
- This study examined whether successful psychotherapy outcomes for depression are associated with reducing CVD risk.
- The study found that reliable improvement from depression symptoms was associated with a lower risk of new onset of any CVD, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality.
- The association between successful psychotherapy outcomes and reduced CVD risk was more substantial in individuals under 60 than those over 60 for all outcomes.
- The study suggests that psychological interventions for depression could have a significant impact on the prevention of CVD.
Summary
The study found that individuals who experienced reliable improvement from depression symptoms had a lower risk of new onset of any CVD, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.88 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.86-0.89. The association between reliable improvement from depression symptoms and reduced risk of coronary heart disease was also significant, with an HR of 0.89 and a 95% CI of 0.86-0.92. Moreover, the study found a significant association between reliable improvement from depression and a lower risk of stroke, with an HR of 0.88 and a 95% CI of 0.83-0.94. Finally, a reliable improvement from depression was also associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, with an HR of 0.81 and a 95% CI of 0.78-0.84.
Interestingly, the study found that the association between successful psychotherapy outcomes and reduced risk of CVD was more substantial in individuals under 60 than those over 60 for all outcomes. The study authors suggested this could be because older individuals may have a higher burden of comorbidities and risk factors for CVD, which may reduce the impact of psychological interventions.
The study used a large cohort of 636,955 individuals, and the results were confirmed in sensitivity analyses, which suggests that the findings are robust. However, the authors caution that more research is needed to determine the causality of the association between psychological interventions for depression and reduced risk of CVD. Nonetheless, the study’s findings have important implications for public health policy, suggesting that psychological interventions for depression could play an essential role in preventing CVD.
Link to the article: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad188/7097470
References El Baou, C., Desai, R., Cooper, C., Marchant, N. L., Pilling, S., Richards, M., Saunders, R., Buckman, J. E. J., Aguirre, E., John, A., & Stott, J. (2023). Psychological therapies for depression and cardiovascular risk: Evidence from national healthcare records in England. European Heart Journal, ehad188. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad188
