title: Role of depression in heart failure--choosing the right antidepressive treatment.
abstract: Major depression is a common feature of heart failure patients and possibly stems from their common biochemical background. Depression and heart failure co-morbidity has several clinical implications on the prognosis of these patients. Furthermore antidepressive drugs have known cardiovascular side effects, while their safety and efficacy in heart failure has not been fully elucidated yet. The right choice of antidepressive treatment in heart failure constitutes an issue of high importance as it can affect the clinical outcome of these patients. In this article we highlight the role of major depression in heart failure and demonstrate their common biochemical background. Moreover we review the acquired so far knowledge on the use of the various categories of antidepressants in heart failure by reference to the existing clinical studies on antidepressants efficacy and safety in heart failure. Even though certain conclusions cannot be drawn yet, evidence suggests that the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may have a beneficial effect on clinical outcome of heart failure patients.
authors.affiliation: Athens University Medical School, 1st Cardiology Department, Greece. drtousoulis@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tousoulis
authors.forename: Alexis S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Antonopoulos
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Antoniades
authors.forename: Chrysa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saldari
authors.forename: Elli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stefanadi
authors.forename: Gerasimos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Siasos
authors.forename: Pavlos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stougianos
authors.forename: Aris
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plastiras
authors.forename: Porfirios
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Korompelis
authors.forename: Christodoulos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors