Association between cardiovascular diseases and depressive symptoms in adults. A pooled analysis of population-based surveys WOBASZ, NATPOL2011 and WOBASZ II.

INTRODUCTION Psychosocial risk factors play an important role in the origins of cardiovascular risk. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the prevalence of depressive symptoms (DS) in relation to some socio-demographic characteristics and selected cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and to assess the relationship between self-reported CVD and severity of DS. PATIENTS AND METHODS Three cross-sectional population-based surveys: WOBASZ (2003-2005), NATPOL2011 (2011) and WOBASZ II (2013-2014) covered a total sample of 20,514 participants (9,614 men and 10,900 women), aged 20 - 74 years, who all completed a Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS One fifth of men and one third of women had DS. Prevalence of DS increased with age, was higher in unmarried persons and in individuals with a medical history of CVD and decreased with higher education. Individuals with DS, both men and women, even those with borderline depression, had from one and a half to more than twice higher chance of suffering either from coronary artery disease (CAD) or arrhythmia (ARR) and from twice to almost four times higher chance of previous STR in their medical history. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that DS were a frequently observed condition in a general Polish population including population of individuals suffering from CVD. We also demonstrated that there is a relationship between self-reported CVD and severity of DS regardless of age, marital status, education and concomitant disorders.