In patients who have just undergone heart bypass surgery, depression triples the risk of a new heart problem in the first year after the operation, US researchers report. The findings suggest that bypass patients should tell their doctors they are feeling down, and that doctors should be on the lookout for depression in these patients. And depressed women are at higher risk than men, Dr. Ingrid Connerney noted during her presentation of the findings Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Savannah, Georgia. Connerney and colleagues at the University of Maryland Medical Center and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York assessed 309 CABG patients for depression prior to patients going home from the hospital. The team contacted the patients 12 months later to ask about their progress during the first 12 months after surgery.
Ejection fraction is a measure of how well the heart is pumping blood.
A low ejection fraction signals a heart in trouble. These findings show that CABG patients should report feelings of depression to their physicians, and physicians should be aware of the increased risks faced by patients with depression, Connerney said. During a CABG procedure, surgeons use veins or chest arteries to create new paths for blood to flow around blockages in heart arteries, ensuring that the heart muscle gets enough blood. The procedure is commonly performed in patients who have chest pain or have survived a heart attack. 1998 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.