---
title: "Psych News Alert: Study Helps Illuminate Link Between Depression, Heart Disease"
description: Depression appears to lead to inflammation, not vice versa, in individuals with coronary heart disease. This is the key finding from large p...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-09-43-2106-PM.jpg
---

 4/8/13 12:00 AM

# Study Helps Illuminate Link Between Depression, Heart Disease

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

Share: [facebook-f icon ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/study-helps-illuminate-link-between.html) [linkedin-in icon ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/study-helps-illuminate-link-between.html) [Twitter icon ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/study-helps-illuminate-link-between.html) [pinterest-p icon ](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/study-helps-illuminate-link-between.html) [envelope icon ](mailto:?body=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/study-helps-illuminate-link-between.html)

| [![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-09-44-2206-PM.jpg?width=150&height=200&name=heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-09-44-2206-PM.jpg)](https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-09-44-2206-PM.jpg) |  |
| --- | --- |

Depression appears to lead to inflammation, not vice versa, in individuals with coronary heart disease. This is the key finding from large prospective study headed by Mary Whooley, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and reported in the April *[Psychoneuroendocrinology](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453012002570)*. The study included 667 subjects evaluated for depression for five consecutive years and for white blood cell count (which indicates systemic inflammation) at baseline and after the five years of follow-up. The researchers found that 66% of the subjects had no depressive symptoms, 13% had depressive symptoms at one annual assessment, and 21% had depressive symptoms at two or more annual assessments. At the end of five years, subjects with recurrent depressive symptoms had significantly higher white blood cell counts than the other two groups did, even after controlling for demographics, cardiac disease severity, health behaviors, and other variables. Baseline white cell count, in contrast, was not significantly associated with subsequent depressive symptoms.

Thus it appears that "depression is a risk factor for inflammation" and that such inflammation in turn might be "a potential mediator in the relationship between depression and adverse cardiac outcomes," Whooley and her colleagues concluded.

And if this is the case, then it might help explain why people who are depressed after having a heart attack are at three to five times the risk of dying than are those who are not depressed after a heart attack. For more on this topic, see *Psychiatric News *[here](http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsarticle.aspx?articleid=334887) and [here](http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsarticle.aspx?articleid=1676219). More information about the interface between depression and heart disease and how depression might lead to negative heart disease outcomes can be found in American Psychiatric Publishing's *[Text of Psychosomatic Medicine: Psychiatric Care of the Medically Ill, Second Edition.](http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62379)*

(Image: CLIPAREA/Custom media/Shutterstock.com)

[depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [heart attacks](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/heart-attacks), [coronary heart disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/coronary-heart-disease)

## Related posts

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-30-50-2962-PM.jpg?height=200&name=heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-30-50-2962-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2018/07/escitalopram-may-improve-long-term.html)

[JAMA](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/jama), [depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [heart attack](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/heart-attack), [escitalopram](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/escitalopram)

## [Escitalopram May Improve Long-Term Outcomes After Heart Attack](https://alert.psychnews.org/2018/07/escitalopram-may-improve-long-term.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 7/26/18 12:00 AM

Treating patients who have depression following a recent heart attack or unstable angina with...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2018/07/escitalopram-may-improve-long-term.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/AHA%20Logo_4a5-Jun-24-2025-07-43-27-4136-PM.jpg?height=200&name=AHA%20Logo_4a5-Jun-24-2025-07-43-27-4136-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/heart-association-panel-says-depression.html)

[depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [Carolyn Robinowitz](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/carolyn-robinowitz), [American Heart Association](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/american-heart-association), [coronary heart disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/coronary-heart-disease)

## [Heart Association Panel Says Depression Should Be Listed as Major Cardiac Risk](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/heart-association-panel-says-depression.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 3/28/14 12:00 AM

This week in the journal Circulation, a scientific statement was issued by an American Heart...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/heart-association-panel-says-depression.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/heart%20and%20vascular%20system_126579179-Jun-24-2025-06-17-27-5836-PM.jpg?height=200&name=heart%20and%20vascular%20system_126579179-Jun-24-2025-06-17-27-5836-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/01/somatic-symptoms-of-depression-may.html)

[depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [cardiovascular disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/cardiovascular-disease), [heart attack](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/heart-attack)

## [Somatic Symptoms of Depression May Predict Heart Attack, Study Finds](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/01/somatic-symptoms-of-depression-may.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 1/27/14 12:00 AM

New data suggest that the increased heart attack risk that numerous studies have associated with...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/01/somatic-symptoms-of-depression-may.html)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Psychiatric News Alert",
    "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-06-24T17:10:44.180Z",
  "datePublished" : "2013-04-08T04:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Psych News Alert: Study Helps Illuminate Link Between Depression, Heart Disease",
  "image" : [ "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/heart%20inflammation_112083197-Jun-24-2025-05-09-43-2106-PM.jpg" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/study-helps-illuminate-link-between.html",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/PN-Blue-Box.jpg"
    }
  }
}
```