title: Depressive symptoms predict mortality in elderly subjects with chronic heart failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic heart failure (CHF) is characterized by a high mortality in the elderly. Moreover, depression status is also related to poor prognosis in advancing age. Thus, we sought to determine whether depressive status predicts long-term mortality in subject with or without CHF.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Long-term mortality after 12-year follow-up in 125 elderly subjects with CHF and 1143 elderly subjects without CHF was studied. Depression was evaluated using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and all subjects were stratified in tertiles according to GDS score (0-10, 11-20 and 21-30). With increasing GDS score, long-term mortality at the end of follow-up increased from 43·4% to 72·0% in subjects without (P < 0·001) and from 52·6% to 83·9% in subjects with (P < 0·007) CHF. In multivariate analysis, GDS appeared to be predictive of long-term mortality in the absence (Hazard ratio = 1·01; confidence interval 95% 1·00-1·05; P = 0·04) and, even more, in the presence of CHF (Hazard ratio = 1·08; confidence interval 95% 1·01-1·15; P < 0·01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Depression symptoms predict long-term mortality in elderly subjects without and, even more, with CHF. Thus, depression can be considered a strong predictor of death in CHF elderly subjects.
authors: Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Scienze Cardiovascolari ed Immunologiche, Cattedra di Geriatria, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors: Gianluca
authors: G
authors: Testa
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Cacciatore
authors: Gianluigi
authors: G
authors: Galizia
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Della-Morte
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Mazzella
authors: Gaetano
authors: G
authors: Gargiulo
authors: Assunta
authors: A
authors: Langellotto
authors: Carolina
authors: C
authors: Raucci
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Ferrara
authors: Franco
authors: F
authors: Rengo
authors: Pasquale
authors: P
authors: Abete