New research led by Dr. Mary A. Whooley of the VA Medical Center in San Francisco found that patients with depression had a 50 percent greater risk of cardiovascular events. They also determined that physical inactivity was associated with a 44 percent greater rate of cardiovascular events.
Heart patients with depression are less likely to follow dietary, exercise and medication recommendations, and poor health behaviors can lead to cardiovascular events, said the authors of the study, which was published in the November 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers said their findings “raise the hypothesis that the increased risk of cardiovascular events associated with depression could potentially be preventable with behavior modifications, especially exercise.”
The study did not indicate whether depression leads to inactivity or if inactivity leads to depression. However, common sense says exercise is beneficial, especially for sufferers of both depression and heart disease.
Report: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/300/20/2379