Depression is a common after-effect of cardiac surgery.
Test scores range from 0 to 60, with a score above 16 indicating major depression. The average person scores between 5 and 6 on the CES-D, researcher Dr. Guy McKhann told Reuters Health. Study findings showed that the chance of an individual reporting chest pain at 1 and 4-year intervals increased significantly as his or her feelings of depression intensified. Patients who scored at least 10 points increased their risk of developing chest pain by a factor of 2.2. Individuals scoring 20 on the scale increased their risk 4.7-fold and those scoring 30 points increased their risk by over 10 times.