Veterans with depression have increased risk of heart failure: JAMA

U.S. veterans with depression had a 14% higher risk of heart failure, a new Vanderbilt University Medical Center-led study found, even after adjusting for traditional risk factors.

The study, “Depression and Heart Failure in U.S. Veterans,” was published May 8 in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding author Evan Brittain, MD, MSCI, professor of Medicine, said the study suggests implications for patient care.

“Patients and clinicians have another reason to screen for and treat depression in order to prevent potential future heart failure,” he said.

Brittain, who holds the Cardiology Division Directorship, noted the study is the largest of its kind, analyzing a sample of 3.4 million veterans from 2000 to 2015, who received care at Veterans Administration facilities. Participants were born between 1945 and 1965, met a medical home definition (had three outpatient visits within five years), and were free of heart failure at baseline. Participants were excluded if they were younger than 18, had unknown sex data, had death within one year of meeting the definition of medical home, or had received a heart transplant before or within one year of meeting that definition.