Relation between myocardial infarction, depression, hostility, and death

Objective To examine the independent impact of major depression and hostili ty on mortality rate at 6 months and 12 months after discharge from the hos pital in patients with a myocardial infarction. Method Three hundred thirty-one patients were prospectively evaluated for d epression with a modified version of the National Institute of Mental Healt h Diagnostic interview Schedule for major depressive episode. The Cook Medl ey Hostility Scale data were analyzed by chi(2) procedures for nominal and categoric data, and Student t test was used for continuous data types. Results Depression was a significant predictor of death at 12 months (P = . 04) but not at 6 months (P = .08). Hostility was not found to be a predicto r of death at 6 months or 12 months. Conclusions Major depression in patients hospitalized after myocardial infa rction is a significant univariable predictor of death at 12 months, althou gh it was not a statistically significant predictor after adjusting for oth er variables. Hostility is not a predictor of death. Prospective studies ar e needed to determine the impact of aggressive treatment of depression on p ost-myocardial infarction survival.