janulla/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Researchers presented a study at a conference on Heart Failure Saturday, indicating that depression was linked to a five-fold increase in risk of death in heart failure patients.
According to a press release for the event, researchers followed patients for a year following hospitalization for heart failure. Those patients who suffered from moderate or severe depression were found to be five times as likely to die in the year after they were discharged from the hospital.
Depression is not uncommon in heart disease patients or patients who have undergone cardiac surgery.
More research would be needed to determine how to treat depression in cardiac patients.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
