Depression and cardiovascular diseases among Canadian older adults: a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the CLSA Comprehensive Cohort.

Abstract

ObjectiveTo examine whether cardiovascular disease (CVD) is associated with depression status.Methods29,328 participants from baseline of Canadian Longitudinal Study for Aging were categorized into four groups of depression status. Group 1: no depression (reference); Group 2: currently with depression symptom (CES-D10 score ≥ 10, negative self-reported depression); Group 3: self-reported depression with no current symptom (CES-D10 score < 10, positive self-reported depression); and Group 4: self-reported depression with current symptom (CES-D10 score ≥ 10, self-reported depression). Six self-reported CVDs were grouped into two related disorders, i.e., heart related disorders (HRD) including heart disease, myocardial infarction, and angina; and peripheral/vascular related disorders (PRD) including hypertension, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were used to evaluate the associations between depression and CVDs.Results17.3% of participants had self-reported depression, 15.3% were with current depression symptom, 10.5% were with HRD and 34.4% were with PRD. After adjusting for variables of demographics, sex, lifestyles, and comorbidities, compared to reference, people in Group 2 had a slightly increased odds, but most of them were not statistically significant; the ORs (95% CI) were 1.36 (1.18–1.58, P < 0.0001) for HRD and 1.20 (1.09–1.32, P < 0.001) for PRD in Group 3; for people in Group 4, the ORs (95% CI) were 1.31 (1.08–1.61, P < 0.01) for HRD and 1.17 (1.02–1.34, P < 0.05) for PRD. Sex- and age-stratified analyses suggested that the increased ORs were more prevalent in men and people aged < 65 years.ConclusionsSeniors with self-reported depression are associated with an increased risk of CVDs, the association varies by depression status, sex and age.