Depressive symptom dimensions and cardiovascular prognosis among women with suspected myocardial ischemia: A report from the national heart, lung, and blood institute-sponsored women's ischemia syndrome evaluation

Context: Symptoms of depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) overlap substantially. Differentiating between dimensions of depressive symptoms may improve our understanding of the relationship between depression and physical health. Objective: To compare symptom dimensions of depression as predictors of cardiovascular-related death and events among women with suspected myo- cardial ischemia. Design: Cohort study of women with suspected myo- cardial ischemia who underwent evaluation at baseline for a history of cardiovascular-related problems, depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory, and coronary artery disease severity via coronary angiogra- phy. Principal components analyses (PCAs) of the Beck Depression Inventory items were conducted to examine differential cardiovascular prognosis according to symptom dimensions of depression. Setting: The Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE), a multicenter study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to assess cardiovascular function using state-of-the-art techniques in women referred for coronary angiography to evaluate chest pain or suspected myocardial ischemia. Participants: Five hundred fifty women (mean [SD] age, 58.4 [11.2] years) enrolled in the WISE study and followed up for a median of 5.8 years. Main Outcome Measures: Cardiovascular-related mortality and events (stroke, myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure). Results: When a 3-factor structure from PCA was used, somatic/affective (hazards ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.74) and appetitive (1.42; 1.21-1.68) butnot cognitive/affective (0.89; 0.70-1.14) symptoms predicted cardiovascular prognosis in adjusted multivariate Cox regression analysis. When a 2-factor structure from PCA was used, adjusted results indicated that somatic (hazards ratio, 1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.282.08) but not cognitive/affective (0.87; 0.68-1.11) symptoms predicted worse prognosis. Conclusions: In a sample of women with suspected myocardial ischemia, somatic but not cognitive/affective depressive symptoms were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular-related mortality and events. These results support the need to research dimensions of depression in CVD populations and have implications for understanding the connection between depression and CVD.