title: Optimism and death: predicting the course and consequences of depression trajectories in response to heart attack.
abstract: The course of depression in relation to myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as heart attack, and the consequences for mortality are not well characterized. Further, optimism may predict both the effects of MI on depression as well as mortality secondary to MI. In the current study, we utilized a large population-based prospective sample of older adults (N=2,147) to identify heterogeneous trajectories of depression from 6 years prior to their first-reported MI to 4 years after. Findings indicated that individuals were at significantly increased risk for mortality when depression emerged after their first-reported MI, compared with resilient individuals who had no significant post-MI elevation in depression symptomatology. Individuals with chronic depression and those demonstrating pre-event depression followed by recovery after MI were not at increased risk. Further, optimism, measured before MI, prospectively differentiated all depressed individuals from participants who were resilient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine isaac.galatzer-levy@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Isaac R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Galatzer-Levy
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University.
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Bonanno
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: depression; heart attack; latent growth mixture modeling; mortality; myocardial infarction; optimism; resilience