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Depression and Heart Disease

People with heart disease are more likely to suffer from depression than people without heart disease. Depression can directly and indirectly affect the heart by causing increases in blood pressure and changes in the heart's electrical system, among other things. Depression often goes undiagnosed and untreated -- and this happens more often in people with heart disease than in people without it.

Depression and Heart Disease: An Overview

Two of the most common illnesses suffered in today's society are depression and heart disease. In fact, more than 25 million people in the United States are living with heart disease and more than 31 million Americans have had at least one episode of major depression during their lives. What most people do not know is that these conditions are also closely linked.
 

Key Facts on the Link Between Heart Disease and Depression

Some key facts and statistics related to depression and heart disease include the following:
 
 
  • Depression research over the past two decades has shown that people with heart disease are more likely to suffer from depression than people without heart disease
 
  • People with depression are at greater risk of developing heart disease
 
  • People with heart disease who are depressed have an increased risk of death after a heart attack compared to those who are not depressed
 
  • About one in three people who have survived a heart attack will have at least one episode of major depression.
 

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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
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