• Mitsumasa Hata, Yuko Yagi, Akira Sezai, Tetsuya Niino, Masataka Yoda, Shinji Wakui, Masao Soeda, Ichiroh Nohata, Motomi Shiono, and Kazutomo Minami.
• Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Psychosomatic Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine Ooyaguchi Kamimachi, Tokyo, Japan. mihata@med.nihon-u.ac.jp
• Circ. J. 2006 Apr 1;70(4):389-92.

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to determine the predictors of depression as a complication after open heart surgery and influence of depression on the patients' prognosis.Methods And ResultsDuring the last 3 years, 97 patients (21.5%) of the 452 adult patients who had open heart surgery at our institute experienced depression after the operation. Patients who scored over 16 points using a Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale were diagnosed with significant symptoms of depression. Depressed patients (group I, n=97) and non-depressed patients (group II, n=355) in terms of mortality and length of hospital stay were compared. Predictors for depression were identified by logistic regression analysis. The postoperative hospital stay was significantly longer in group I. Hospital mortality was also significantly higher in group I. Female gender (odds ratio (OR): 5.15, p<0.0001), emergency surgery (OR: 4.46, p<0.0001), and being over 70 years of age (OR: 4.67, p<0.0001) were found to be significant predictors for postoperative depression.ConclusionThe prognosis for patients who had depression developed after open heart surgery was poor. It might be important to start prophylactic medication as soon as possible after the operation, particularly for patients at risk of having depression.

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