Cited by 79Cardiac Health and Mental HealthTreatment of Major DepressionAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Efficacy and tolerability of antidepressants for treatment of depression in coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis

Open access
Dowlati, Yekta, Herrmann, Nathan, Swardfager, Walter L, Reim, Elyse K, Lanctôt, Krista L·2010·The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

Objective: Depression occurs in 18% to 45% of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) where it is associated with an increased risk of acute coronary events and mortality. Our objective was to quantitatively summarize the data on the efficacy and tolerability of antidepressant (AD) treatment for depression in CAD. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials with a database search of the English literature (to March 2008) and manual search of references. Results: Four clinical trials with ADs (mirtazapine, citalopram, fluoxetine, and sertraline) of a 9- to 24-week duration involving 798 subjects (402 ADs, 396 placebo) with documented CAD and meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for depression were included. ADs were superior to placebo for decreasing Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores (402 ADs, 396 placebo; weighted mean difference 1.41, 95% CI 0.53 to 2.29, P = 0.002) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores (373 ADs, 369 placebo; weighted mean difference 2.27, 95% CI 0.60 to 3.94, P = 0.008). The proportion of patients (216 ADs, 213 placebo) who responded (a 50% or more reduction in HDRS scores, OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.17 to 2.54) and remitted (HDRS of 8 or less at final assessment, OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.18 to 2.74), were also significantly higher with AD, compared with placebo, with no significant differences between the 2 groups for overall dropouts (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.42 to 1.68) or dropout owing to adverse events (OR 1.30, 95% CI 0.75 to 2.25). The combined studies were homogeneous except for overall dropout rate ( P = 0.01). Conclusion: Treatment with ADs for depression in CAD results in significant therapeutic effects without substantially increased rates of discontinuation.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/070674371005500205

Cites

81 of 81 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Coronary patients with clinically significant depression can be safely and effectively treated with psychotherapy or SSRIs, but evidence for a beneficial effect on cardiac endpoints is inconclusive.

    “Coronary patients with clinically significant depression can be safely and effectively treated with psychotherapy 84,85,351 -353 or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, 354 -356 although evidence for a beneficial effect on cardiac endpoints is inconclusive.”
  • Most studies showed no significant beneficial effect of treating depression on cardiac endpoints, but a recent RCT revealed fewer depressive symptoms and fewer major adverse cardiac events.

    “Whereas most studies could show no significant beneficial effect, 84,351 -356 a recent RCT revealed fewer depressive symptoms as well as fewer major adverse cardiac events.85”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Frasure-Smith N, Lesperance F, Talajic M. The impact of negative emotions on prognosis following myocardial infarction: is it more than depression? Health Psychol. 1995;14(5):388-398.
  2. Moher D, Pham B, Jones A, et al. Does quality of reports of randomised trials affect estimates of intervention efficacy reported in meta-analyses? Lancet. 1998;352(9128):609-613.
  3. Jadad AR, Moore RA, Carroll D, et al. Assesing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: is blinding necessary? Control Clin Trials. 1996;17(1):1-12.
  4. Furukawa TA, Watanabe N, Omori IM, et al. Can pill placebo augment cognitive-behavior therapy for panic disorder? BMC Psychiatry. 2007;7:73.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dowlati, Y., Herrmann, N., Swardfager, W. L., Reim, E. K., & Lanctôt, K. L.
Affiliations
Sunnybrook Health Science Centre (CA)
Corresponding author
Lanctôt, Krista L
Venue
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
Published
2010-02
Volume
55
Issue
2
Pages
91-99
ISSN
  • 0706-7437 (ISSN-L)
  • 1497-0015
OpenAlex
W172043770
Cited by
79
References
81
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 14
FWCI
2.22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Abbott Fund
  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • Pfizer
  • Physicians' Services Incorporated Foundation
  • H. Lundbeck A/S
  • Lundbeck Canada
  • Pfizer Canada
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
antidepressants, depression, coronary artery disease, mirtazapine, citalopram, fluoxetine, sertraline, antidepressant efficacy, antidepressant tolerability, treatment response and remission, adverse events, dropout, placebo comparison, cancer-related depression
MeSH terms
Antidepressive Agents, Coronary Artery Disease, Depression, Double-Blind Method, Humans, Patient Dropouts, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review