Cardiovascular risk in young patients with a depressive disorder

Introduction:

Depressive disorders are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. In a previous study, we showed that depressive patients had an increased Body Mass Index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure and increased glucose levels compared to healthy controls. Interestingly, the increased cardiovascular risk was independent of the intake of antidepressant medication and present in a relatively young patient population (Kuehl et al., 2016). In the current study, we examine whether an independent sample of young depressed patients without antidepressant medication has an increased cardiovascular risk compared to age-, gender- and education level-matched healthy controls.

Methods:

As part of a bigger research project, we are currently testing 116 depressive patients and 116 age-, gender- and education level-matched healthy controls. At the AGNP and DGBP congress 2019, we want to present first results of our study. The recruitment will be terminated at the end of the year and we already examined 116 patients (age years M = 34, 78% women, school years M = 11.80) and 108 healthy controls (age years M = 34, 81% women, school years M = 12.07). In addition to the assessment of demographic information, we conduct interviews to diagnose depressive disorders according to DSM 5 and we assess BMI, blood pressure and pulse, as well as cholesterol-, CRP- and glucose-levels.

Results:

We expect that depressive patients have an increased cardiovascular risk in comparison to healthy controls. Based on the results of our previous study, we expect that this will find expression in increased BMI values, blood pressure and pulse, as well as increased glucose levels (Kuehl et al., 2016).

Conclusion:

Our study gives insight into whether patients with a depressive disorder have already in early life an increased cardiovascular risk compared to young healthy controls.