MedPage Today (1/5, Neale) reported, “A few modifiable behaviors appear to explain the relationship between depressive symptoms and poorer outcomes in patients in with coronary heart disease,” according to a 4,676-participant study published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Investigators found, “as seen in previous studies,” that “patients with elevated depressive symptoms had a higher risk of MI or all-cause death through about four years of follow-up, after accounting for demographics, education, income, and body mass index (HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.72).” But, “further adjustment for comorbidities, medications, and four behavioral variables — smoking, physical inactivity, medication non-adherence, and alcohol use — rendered the association nonsignificant (HR 1.14, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.40), suggesting that some of those factors mediated the relationship.”

Related Links:

— “Depressed Heart Patients Have Worse Outcomes, “Todd Neale, Medpage Today, January 4, 2013.

Medwire (1/5, Robertson) reported, “Diabetes is associated with a significantly increased risk for depressive symptoms,” according to a meta-analysis published online Dec. 26 in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. “The findings come from an analysis of 16 longitudinal observational studies that included 497,223 individuals who were followed up for a mean of 5.8 years for incidence of depression associated with diabetes.” The researchers found, “after combining the results of all the studies, and after adjustment for a number of confounders, diabetes was associated with a significantly increased risk for incident depression, at a hazard ratio of 1.25.”

Related Links:

— “Diabetes as a risk factor for depression, “Sally Robertson, Medwire News, January 4, 2013.

USA Today (1/4, Healy) reports, “Mental health problems of expectant fathers have found to be associated with emotional and behavioral problems in their kids as toddlers,” according to a study published online in the journal Pediatrics.

MedPage Today (1/7, Petrochko) reports that the study of 31,663 children “found paternal psychological distress was associated with a small but positive risk of a child developing behavioral difficulties (P=0.02), emotional difficulties (P<0.001), and impaired social functioning at age 36 months (P=0.007)," researchers reported. "Higher levels of emotional distress in expectant fathers were associated with higher levels of emotional and behavioral problems in children," the study found. Among the organizations supporting the study were the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Related Links:

— “Expectant dads’ mental health linked to kids’ behavior, “Michelle Healy, USA Today, January 7, 2013.

HealthDay (1/4, Preidt) reports that, according to the 2006-2007 Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey published in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health, “Compared with unmarried women, married women are less likely to experience domestic abuse, substance abuse or postpartum depression around the time of pregnancy.” The 6,400-woman study found that while “10 percent of married women experienced at least one of the problems…the rates were 20 percent for women who lived with a partner but were not married, 35 percent for single women who had never married, and 67 percent for women who became separated or divorced in the year before they gave birth.” The survey found that the longer a woman and her partner cohabitated, the less likely these problems became.

Related Links:

— “Married Women More Likely to Have Positive Pregnancies: Study,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 3, 2013.

CQ (1/4, Ethridge, Subscription Publication) reports that yesterday, “a group of House Democrats called on three Cabinet secretaries…to release a delayed final rule to provide equal insurance coverage for mental health services.” Thirty-two “Democrats, led by Ted Deutch of Florida and Tim Ryan of Ohio, said that last month’s deadly shootings at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school bring ‘newfound urgency’ to ensuring access to mental health care.” For that reason, “they requested the issuance of final rules set in a 2008 mental health law (PL 110-343 (1/4, Subscription Publication)) that would require insurers to offer mental health benefits coverage comparable to other medical benefits.” In February 2010, only an interim final rule was released.