Depressive symptoms and cardiovascular health by the American Heart Association's definition in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study

• Published in: PloS one 2012-12, Vol.7 (12), p.e52771-e52771
• Main Authors: Kronish, Ian M, Carson, April P, Davidson, Karina W, Muntner, Paul, Safford, Monika M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans; Aged; American Heart Association; Analysis; Blood; Blood pressure; Body mass; Body mass index; Body size; Cardiovascular disease; Cholesterol; Coronary Disease - epidemiology; Depression (Mood disorder); Depression - epidemiology; Diagnosis; Diet; Epidemiology; European Continental Ancestry Group; Exercise; Female; Glucose; Health risk assessment; Heart; Humans; Male; Medicine; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Patient compliance; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Prevalence; Racial differences; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Stroke; Stroke - epidemiology; Stroke - ethnology; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States - epidemiology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052771

Depressive symptoms are associated with increased incident and recurrent cardiovascular events. In 2010, the American Heart Association published the Life's Simple 7, a metric for assessing cardiovascular health as measured by 4 health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, body mass index, diet) and 3 biological measures (cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose). The association between depressive symptoms and the Life's Simple 7 has not yet been explored. Data from 20,093 participants ≥45 years of age who enrolled in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study between 2003 and 2007 and who had complete data available on Life's Simple 7 components were used for these analyses. The prevalence of ideal, intermediate, and poor health on each Life's Simple 7 component and total Life's Simple 7 scores were compared between participants with and without depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 4-item Centers for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression scale. Participants with depressive symptoms were more likely to have poor levels on each of the Life's Simple 7 components other than cholesterol [adjusted prevalence ratios (95% CI): smoking 1.41 (1.29-1.55); physical activity 1.38 (1.31-1.46); body mass index 1.09 (1.04-1.15); diet 1.08 (1.06-1.10); blood pressure 1.11 (1.02-1.21); glucose 1.24 (1.09-1.41)]. There was a graded association between increasing depressive symptoms and lower total Life's Simple 7 score. Depressive symptoms are associated with worse cardiovascular health on the overall Life's Simple 7 and on individual components representing both health behaviors and biological factors.