How Should We Treat Depression in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease?

Among patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), depression is highly prevalent and is associated with worse cardiovascular prognosis and lower quality of life. Treatments for depression in CVD patients produce modest, but clinically significant reductions in depressive symptoms and show promise for improving cardiovascular prognosis. While tricyclics should generally be avoided, antidepressants from multiple other classes appear to be safe in cardiac patients. A strategy of engaging patients in choosing medications or psychotherapy and then intensifying treatment to therapeutic goal appears to be more effective at reducing depression than single mode interventions. Recommendations for screening all CVD patients for depression may be premature given increased costs associated with screening and gaps in knowledge about the risk-benefit ratio of depression treatment in mild and moderately depressed patients.