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Study links depression treatment to better outcomes in HF patients
A cognitive behavioral intervention designed to treat depression increased survival and improved overall quality of life in patients with HF, according to study results presented at the meeting.
Debra K. Moser, DNSc, RN, FAHA, FAAN, of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, and colleagues randomly assigned 280 HF patients with or without depression (mean age 61 years; 44% women) to usual care or a 6-week intervention comprised of cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at depressive symptoms or emotional distress. The intervention also included relaxation therapy and was delivered once weekly for 1 hour by a psychiatric nurse practitioner with cardiac expertise. The researchers collected data at baseline, 3 and 12 months.
Debra K. Moser
At baseline, 24% of the study sample met criteria for depression. Data demonstrated significantly longer event-free survival among patients in the intervention group when compared with the control group, independent of baseline depression. Health-related quality of life, as measured by the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, also improved from baseline to 3 months and remained stable at 12 months in the intervention group. In the control group, however, quality of life initially improved from baseline to 3 months, but deteriorated to baseline levels by 12 months (P=.04), according to the study abstract.
The researchers concluded that the 6-week biobehavioral intervention was successful in “severing the link between depression and poor outcomes” in patients with HF, according to the study abstract.
For more information:
Moser DK. Abstract #221. Presented at: the Heart Failure Society of America 16th Annual Scientific Meeting; Sept. 9-12, 2012; Seattle.
Disclosure: Moser reports no relevant financial disclosures.