EFFECT OF DEPRESSION ON SERUM MARKERS AND CAROTID ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE

Tianbo Ye^*, Suping Yin, Yanyan Xu

Department of Cardiology, Changyi people's Hospital, Shandong Province,China-261300

Objective: To investigate the effect of depression on serum lipids, inflammatory factors, plaque stability, and carotid arteriosclerosis in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Materials and method: A total of 210 patients with CHD were recruited to the study. Depression was defined as a Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) score of ≥8. Based on this classification, 90 patients with a HAMD score of ≥8 were included in the depression group, while the remaining 120 patients with a HAMD score of < 8 were included in the control group. Serum lipids (TC, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C), inflammatory factors (CRP, sICAM-1 and IL-6) and plaque stability indexes (PTX3, Lp-PLA2 and Cat K) were compared between the control and depression groups.

Results: The levels of serum TC, TG and LDL-C were lower in the control group compared to the depression group (p=0.027, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively), but the level of serum HDL-C was higher (p<0.001). The control group also had lower levels of serum CRP, sICAM-1 and IL-6 compared to the depression group (all p<0.001). Levels of serum PTX3, Lp-PLA2 and Cat K were lower in the control group compared to the depression group (all p<0.001). The carotid artery intima-media thickness (C-IMT) in the control group was lower than in the depression group (p=0.024), while the number of unstable plaques and of total plaques in the control group were less than in the depression group (both p=0.001). There was no significant difference in the number of stable plaques between the two groups (p=0.880).

Conclusion: Depression can induce dyslipidemia, aggravate inflammation, increase carotid artery intima-media thickness, promote formation of unstable plaque, and raise the risk of arteriosclerosis.