Heart disease is the number one cause of illness in America, while mental illness is number two. Considering how often they occur together, this news has serious implications.

A study of cardiac patient who took antidepressants found them at a 55% increased risk of death.

“This finding that antidepressant use was an independent risk factor for mortality in patients with coronary artery disease was quite unexpected,” said Watkins, who presented the results of the Duke study March 4, 2006, at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver. The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

“We were surprised since antidepressants, particularly the newer class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), have been generally considered safe,” Watkins said. “However, even after taking into account many patient variables, as well as the type of antidepressant, the risk still remained. So there is something important going on here that we don’t fully understand.”

In April, Duke investigators will begin enrolling depressed patients in a randomized trial testing the abilities of exercise and SSRIs to impact such physiological markers of coronary artery disease as platelet aggregation, heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity, or the ability of blood vessel walls to respond appropriately to changes in blood pressure.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 5 Mar 2006
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.