Abstract
Objectives
To investigate whether the association of depression and ischemic heart disease (IHD) is moderated by gender, marital status or education.
Methods
Data from the 1998 Medicare Health Outcome Survey (HOS) with a 2 year follow-up were re-analyzed. 63,965 older adults who had not reported IHD at baseline were included. Logistic regression analysis modelled the effects of depression, somatic risk factors, and demographic variables on IHD after 2 years.
Results
Two year reported incidence of IHD was 6.2%. Depression was associated with a 1.53-fold risk of developing IHD after controlling for somatic risk factors and demographic variables. Male gender, lower than high-school education, and being married were associated with IHD. Neither of these variables yielded significant interactions with depression, nor did any of the higher-order interaction terms.
Conclusions
The association of depression and IHD seems independent from pivotal demographic variables. Possibly the impact of psychosocial factors in this sample of older people is weak compared to medical conditions and age. Also the possibility exists that a common factor such as a shared genetic vulnerability contributes to both depressive symptoms and IHD.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ariyo AA, Haan M, Tangen CM, Rutledge JC, Cushman M, Dobs A, Furberg CD (2000) Depressive symptoms and risks of coronary heart disease and mortality in elderly Americans Cardiovascular Health Study Collaborative Research Group. Circulation 102:1773–1779
Barth J, Schumacher M, Herrmann-Lingen C (2004) Depression as a risk factor for mortality in patients with coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. Psychosom Med 66:802–813
Carney RM, Freedland KE, Steinmeyer B, Blumenthal JA, de Jonge P, Davidson KW, Czajkowski SM, Jaffe AS (2009) History of depression and survival after acute myocardial infarction. Psychosom Med 71:253–259
Frasure-Smith N, Lespérance F (2006) Recent evidence linking coronary heart disease and depression. Can J Psychiatry 51:730–737
Frasure-Smith N, Lespérance F, Juneau M, Talajic M, Bourassa MG (1999) Gender, depression, and 1 year prognosis after myocardial infarction. Psychosom Med 61:26–37
Frasure-Smith N, Lespérance F, Gravel G, Masson A, Juneau M, Talajic M, Bourassa M (2000) Social support, depression, and mortality during the first year after myocardial infarction. Circulation 101:1919–1924
Health Services Advisory Group (2005) Medicare Health Outcomes Survey. Cohort I Analytic public use file. Data user’s guide (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/23380/documentation;jsessionid=FB34C93F71E2143784729031396BDD0F)
Herrmann-Lingen C, Buss U (2006) Anxiety and depression in patients with coronary heart disease. In: Jordan J, Bardé B, Zeiher A (eds) Contributions toward evidence-based psychocardiology: a systematic review of the literature. APA, Washington, pp 125–157
Horsten M, Mittleman MA, Wamala SP, Schenck-Gustafsson, Orth-Gomér K (2000) Depressive symptoms and lack of social integration in relation to prognosis of CHD in middle-aged women. The Stockholm Female Heart Risk Study. Eur Heart J 21:1072–1080
Huffman JC, Celano CM, Januzzi JL (2010) The relationship between depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndromes. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 6:123–136
Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Newton TL (2001) Marriage and health: his and hers. Psychol Bull 127:472–503
Lett HS, Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Sherwood A, Strauman T, Robins C, Newman MF (2004) Depression as a risk factor for coronary artery disease: evidence, mechanisms, and treatment. Psychosom Med 66:305–315
Lillard LA, Panis CWA (1996) Marital status and mortality: the role of health. Demography 33(3):313–327
Marmot MG, Shipley MJ (1996) Do socioeconomic differences in mortality persist after retirement? 25 year follow up of civil servants from the first Whitehall study. BMJ 313:1177–1180
Marzari C, Maggi S, Manzato E, Destro C, Noale M, Bianchi D, Minicuci N, Farchi G, Baldereschi M, Di Carlo A, Crepaldi G (2005) Depressive symptoms and development of coronary heart disease events: the Italian longitudinal study on aging. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 60:85–92
McCaffery JM, Frasure-Smith N, Bubé MP, Théroux P, Rouleau GA, Duan QL, Lespérance F (2006) Common genetic vulnerability to depressive symptoms and coronary artery disease. Psychosom Med 68:187–200
Meisinger C, Kandler U, Ladwig KH (2009) Living alone is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in men but not women from the general population: the MONICA/KORA Augsburg Cohort Study. Psychosom Med 71:784–788
Mendes de Leon CF, Krumholz HM, Seeman TS, Vaccarino V, Williams CS, Kasl SV, Berkman LF (1998) Depression and risk of coronary heart disease in elderly men and women: new haven EPESE, 1982–1991 established populations for the epidemiologic studies of the elderly. Arch Intern Med 158:2341–2348
Meyer T, Cooper J, Raspe H (2007) Disabling low back pain and depression in the community-dwelling elderly: a prospective study. Spine 32:2380–2386
Nabi H, Kivimaki M, Suominen S, Koskenvuo M, Singh-Manoux A, Vahtera J (2010) Does depression predict coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease equally well? The health and social support prospective cohort study. Int J Epidemiol 39:1016–1024
Orth-Gomér K, Albus Ch, Bagés N, DeBacker G, Deter HC, Herrmann -Lingen Ch, Oldenburg B, Sans S, Williams RB, Schneiderman N (2005) Psychosocial considerations in the European guidelines for prevention of cardiovascular diseases in clinical practice: 3rd joint task force. Int J Behav Med 12:132–141
Panagiotakos DB, Pitsavos C, Kogias Y, Mantas Y, Zombolos S, Antonoulas A, Giannopoulos G, Chrysohoou C, Stefanadis C (2008) Marital status, depressive episodes, and short-term prognosis of patients with acute coronary syndrome: Greek study of acute coronary syndrome (GREECS). Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 4:425–432
Parashar S, Rumsfeld JS, Reid KJ, Buchanan D, Dawood N, Khizer S, Lichtman J, Vaccarino V, PREMIER Registry Investigators (2009) Impact of depression on sex differences in outcome after myocardial infarction. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2(1):33–40
Rosengren A, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, Sliwa K, Zubaid M, Almahmeed WA, Blackett KN, Sitthi-amorn C, Sato H, Yusuf S, INTERHEART investigators (2004) Association of pychosocial risk factors with risk of acute myocardial infarction in 11,119 cases and 13,648 controls from 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study. Lancet 364(9438):953–962
Rugulies R (2002) Depression as a predictor for coronary heart disease. A review and meta-analysis. Am J Prev Med 23:51–61
Sbarra DA (2009) Marriage protects men from clinically meaningful elevations in C-reactive protein: results from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). Psychosom Med 71:828–835
Skala JA, Freedland KE, Carney RM (2006) Coronary heart disease and depression: a review of recent mechanistic research. Can J Psychiatry 51:738–745
Stewart JC, Rand KL, Muldoon MF, Kamarck TW (2009) A prospective evaluation of the directionality of the depression-inflammation relationship. Brain Behav Immun 23(7):936–944
Surtees PG, Wainwright NW, Luben RN, Wareham NJ, Bingham SA, Khaw KT (2008) Depression and ischemic heart disease mortality: evidence from the EPIC-Norfolk United Kingdom prospective cohort study. Am J Psychiatry 165:515–523
Thurston RC, Kubzansky LD, Kawachi I, Berkman L (2005) Is the association between socioeconomic position and coronary heart disease stronger in women than in men? Am J Epidemiol 162:57–65
Vaccarino V, Johnson BD, Sheps DS, Reis SE, Kelsey SF, Bittner V, Rutledge T, Shaw LJ, Sopko G, Bairey Merz CN (2007) Depression, inflammation, and incident cardiovascular disease in women with suspected coronary ischemia: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored WISE study. J Am Coll Cardiol 50(21):2044–2050
Van der Kooy K, van Hout H, Marwijk H, Marten H, Stehouwer C, Beekman A (2007) Depression and the risk for cardiovascular diseases: systematic review and meta analysis. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 22:613–626
Wulsin LR, Singal BM (2003) Do depressive symptoms increase the risk for the onset of coronary disease? A systematic quantitative review. Psychosom Med 65:201–210
Yusuf S, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, Dans T, Avezum A, Lanas F, McQueen M, Budaj A, Pais P, Varigos J, Lisheng L, INTERHEART Study Investigators (2004) Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study. Lancet 364(9438):937–952
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mittag, O., Meyer, T. The association of depressive symptoms and ischemic heart disease in older adults is not moderated by gender, marital status or education. Int J Public Health 57, 79–85 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0256-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0256-6