Depressive symptoms in hospitalized patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) are under-recognized and associated with an increased risk for adverse cardiovascular events. In 2008, the American Heart Association and the American Psychiatric Association published a scientific advisory calling for the routine screening for depression in patients living with CHD.

In response to this national scientific priority, this secondary data analysis notes that symptom clusters are associated with clinical depression among hospitalized CHD patients. A total of 323 hospitalized CHD patients were enrolled into 1 of 3 parent studies and screened for depressive symptomatology with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression or the Beck Depression Inventory.

Prior to data analysis, a panel of mental health advanced practice nurses convened to transform the 2 measures of depressive symptoms into 11 symptom variables representative of the diagnostic criteria for depression cited in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV.

This study...

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