With Mayo Clinic psychiatrist Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.

We have known that there is a link between depression and heart disease for some time now.

In an exciting development, the American Heart Association (AHA) last month recommended that all heart disease patients be screened regularly for depression. The AHA guidelines reported that those who survive heart attacks or are hospitalized with heart problems have a depression rate 3 times that of the general population.

Those with untreated depression may not follow treatment plan recommendations. This could include not taking medications as prescribed or not following up in rehabilitation programs. The end result is obvious worsening of both the heart disease and depression.

Other medical illness such as Parkinson's disease, pancreatic cancer, and certain types of stroke, just to name a few, are also known to be strongly associated with depression. For those that suffer from Parkinson's disease, 50 percent will also develop depression.

Several depression screening tools are widely available. One of them is the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) and is a self-rated depression assessment. You can find it in the links below. There are 9 questions about depressive symptoms and a tenth question about how symptoms impact one's daily functioning. This screening tool has been validated for patients with medical illnesses. If your health care provider isn't using this tool, they may be using another one. The screening tool is just one part of making the diagnosis. Remember that depression is treatable and the correct diagnosis is important.

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• Depression self-assessment

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