Citation

Mittag O, Meyer T. Int. J. Public Health 2012; 57(1): 79-85.

Affiliation

Department of Quality Management and Social Medicine, University Medical Center of Freiburg, Engelbergerstrasse 21, 79106, Freiburg, Germany, oskar.mittag@uniklinik-freiburg.de.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00038-011-0256-6

PMID

21523615

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the association of depression and ischemic heart disease (IHD) is moderated by gender, marital status or education. METHODS: Data from the 1998 Medicare Health Outcome Survey (HOS) with a 2 year follow-up were re-analyzed. 63,965 older adults who had not reported IHD at baseline were included. Logistic regression analysis modelled the effects of depression, somatic risk factors, and demographic variables on IHD after 2 years. RESULTS: Two year reported incidence of IHD was 6.2%. Depression was associated with a 1.53-fold risk of developing IHD after controlling for somatic risk factors and demographic variables. Male gender, lower than high-school education, and being married were associated with IHD. Neither of these variables yielded significant interactions with depression, nor did any of the higher-order interaction terms. CONCLUSIONS: The association of depression and IHD seems independent from pivotal demographic variables. Possibly the impact of psychosocial factors in this sample of older people is weak compared to medical conditions and age. Also the possibility exists that a common factor such as a shared genetic vulnerability contributes to both depressive symptoms and IHD.

Language: en