Topic: Mental health - Primary Care

A landmark longitudinal study suggests that people who are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, and who also have depression, are nearly three times more likely to develop dementia in later life, compared to those with neither condition.

Depressed people have an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, according to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Filling a prescription for antidepressants, which was used in this study as an indicator of depression, was associated with a three-fold greater risk of atrial fibrillation. However, medication was not responsible for the high frequency of atrial fibrillation in depressed people.

Loneliness injures the heart and is a strong predictor of premature death, according to a study presented at EuroHeartCare 2018, the European Society of Cardiology's annual nursing congress. The study found that feeling lonely was a stronger predictor of poor outcomes than living alone, in both men and women.

Research from an observational study in 9000 patients presented at the recent Acute Cardiovascular Care 2018 congress found that heart attack patients prescribed antidepressants have a lower 1-year survival rate than those not on antidepressants. The study found that those prescribed antidepressants at discharge from hospital after a heart attack had a 66% greater risk of mortality one year later than patients not prescribed the drugs, although they noted the cause is not necessarily related directly to the antidepressants.