title: Psychological and pharmacological interventions for depression in patients with coronary artery disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depression occurs frequently in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and is associated with a poor prognosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effects of psychological and pharmacological interventions for depression in CAD patients with comorbid depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  CENTRAL, DARE, HTA and EED on The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ISRCTN Register and CardioSource Registry were searched. Reference lists of included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were examined and primary authors contacted. No language restrictions were applied.
  
  
  METHODS
  RCTs investigating psychological and pharmacological interventions for depression in adults with CAD and comorbid depression were included. Primary outcomes were depression, mortality and cardiac events. Secondary outcomes were healthcare costs and health-related quality of life (QoL).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two reviewers independently examined the identified papers for inclusion and extracted data from included studies. Random effects model meta-analyses were performed to compute overall estimates of treatment outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The database search identified 3,253 references. Sixteen trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Psychological interventions show a small beneficial effect on depression compared to usual care (range of SMD of depression scores across trials and time frames: -0.81;0.12). Based on one trial per outcome, no beneficial effects on mortality rates, cardiac events, cardiovascular hospitalizations and QoL were found, except for the psychosocial dimension of QoL. Furthermore, no differences on treatment outcomes were found between the varying psychological approaches. The review provides evidence of a small beneficial effect of pharmacological interventions with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) compared to placebo on depression outcomes (pooled SMD of short term depression change scores: -0.24 [-0.38,-0.09]; pooled OR of short term depression remission: 1.80 [1.18,2.74]). Based on one to three trials per outcome, no beneficial effects regarding mortality, cardiac events and QoL were found. Hospitalization rates (pooled OR of three trials: 0.58 [0.39,0.85] and emergency room visits (OR of one trial: 0.58 [0.34,1.00]) were reduced in trials of pharmacological interventions compared to placebo. No evidence of a superior effect of Paroxetine (SSRI) versus Nortriptyline (TCA) regarding depression outcomes was found in one trial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychological interventions and pharmacological interventions with SSRIs may have a small yet clinically meaningful effect on depression outcomes in CAD patients. No beneficial effects on the reduction of mortality rates and cardiac events were found. Overall, however, the evidence is sparse due to the low number of high quality trials per outcome and the heterogeneity of examined populations and interventions.
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstr. 41, Freiburg, Germany, 79085.
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: Baumeister
authors: Nico
authors: N
authors: Hutter
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Bengel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents