Depression and coronary heart disease

Depression is prevalent in the general population, and even more common among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD)Depression is a risk factor for incident CHD, and for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with established CHDPotential biological and behavioural mechanisms for this risk have been identified, but no single factor has been shown to account for more than a fraction of the total riskVery few clinical trials have been conducted to determine whether treating depression decreases the risk of cardiac events in patients with established CHDEach of the trials has substantial shortcomings, and more trials are neededEffective treatments for depression, identification of 'high-risk' depression subtypes, and an improved understanding of the biobehavioural pathways linking depression to cardiac morbidity and mortality are needed