Impact of pre-admission depression on mortality following myocardial infarction.

Abstract

<b>Background</b>The prognostic impact of previous depression on myocardial infarction survival remains poorly understood.<b>Aims</b>To examine the association between depression and all-cause mortality following myocardial infarction.<b>Method</b>Using Danish medical registries, we conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study. We included all patients with first-time myocardial infarction (1995-2014) and identified previous depression as either a depression diagnosis or use of antidepressants. We used Cox regression to compute adjusted mortality rate ratios (aMRRs) with 95% confidence intervals.<b>Results</b>We identified 170 771 patients with first-time myocardial infarction. Patients with myocardial infarction and a previous depression diagnosis had higher 19-year mortality risks (87% <i>v.</i> 78%). The overall aMRR was 1.11 (95% CI 1.07-1.15) increasing to 1.22 (95% CI 1.17-1.27) when including use of antidepressants in the depression definition.<b>Conclusions</b>A history of depression was associated with a moderately increased all-cause mortality following myocardial infarction.