Women depression in heart failure?

Women: Depression in heart failure? According to a new study by the Ruhr University Bochum, which was presented on Saturday at the Cardiologist Congress of the DKG in Mannheim, depression and anxiety are more common in women who suffer from heart failure.

According to a new study by the Ruhr University Bochum, which was presented on Saturday at the Cardiologist Congress of the DKG in Mannheim, depression and anxiety are more common in women who suffer from heart failure. At the 76th Annual Meeting of the German Cardiac Society - Cardiovascular Research (DGK), which took place in Mannheim from 8 to 10 April, Dr. Ing. Claudia Pieper from the Ruhr University Bochum is conducting a study on heart failure patients. Of the 150 heart failure patients examined, about one third were female. During the specialist medical examinations and standardized questionnaires in the study, female patients complained more frequently about anxiety, depression and cardiac arrhythmias than men. More than half of the women reported anxiety, with male patients accounting for almost 42 percent of the total. With regard to the extent of depression, patients were about 30 percent more or less the same.

Interestingly, three months after discharge, female patients' depression increased to about 46 percent. By contrast, the value of male patients declined by around 22 percent. At the same meeting, Dr. Robert Nechwatal from the Christiaan- Barnard Clinic (RHM- Nursing Home and Clinic Group) in Schmannewitz, that 21.1 percent of patients with heart failure had been asked for depression. For around a year, he and his colleagues also used standardized questionnaires to examine patients with heart failure at the clinic in Schmannewitz. In addition, the physicians examined the social environment for support for those affected. As a result, Dr. Nechwatal at the DKG annual conference states that a deficient situation in social support can support depression. Conversely, it seems „social and emotional integration“ as a suitable preventive protection factor against depression.

Dr. Pieper also advises that in the future, especially female patients with heart failure be better controlled in order to initiate appropriate measures against anxiety and depression as early as possible. (Thorsten Fischer, Naturopath Osteopathy, 11.04.2010)

Also read:
Depression (Depressed Syndrome)
New therapy approach in the treatment of depression
Suicide in depressed people
Is there the disease sex addiction?