HealthDay (3/6, Dallas) reports, “Older people with heart disease who have undergone a cardiac catheterization may be at much greater risk for mental decline if they also show persistent signs of depression, according to” research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Investigators looked at data on “350 patients aged 60 or older who had a nonemergency catheterization and found those who had persistent symptoms of depression experienced significantly greater mental decline 30 months after their procedure.”
MedPage Today (3/6, Neale) reports, “Compared with patients with no depressive symptoms or symptoms at baseline only, those with symptoms that persisted at additional visits had greater declines in three cognitive domains and in global cognition within 30 months.” The investigators found that “the three cognitive domains were attention/executive function, learning and memory, and verbal fluency.”
Related Links:
— “Depression Could Worsen Mental Decline in Heart Patients,”Mary Elizabeth Dallas, Health Day, March 5, 2012.