Red Flags for Persistent or Worsening Anxiety and Depression After an Acute Cardiac Event: A 6-Month Longitudinal Study in Regional and Rural Australia.

Red flags for persistent or worsening anxiety and depression after an acute cardiac event: a 6-month longitudinal study in regional and rural Australia.

Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2013 Jun 3;
Murphy B, Ludeman D, Elliott P, Judd F, Humphreys J, Edington J, Jackson A, Worcester M

BACKGROUND: While early symptoms of anxiety and depression resolve for many patients soon after an acute cardiac event, the persistence or worsening of symptoms indicates increased mortality risk. It is therefore important to identify the predictors, or red flags, of persistent or worsening anxiety and depression symptoms. Most previous research has focussed on metropolitan patients, hence the need for studies of regional and rural dwellers. METHOD: In this study, 160 cardiac patients consecutively admitted to two hospitals in regional Victoria, Australia, were interviewed in hospital and 2 and 6 months after discharge. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Growth mixture modelling was used to identify the trajectories of anxiety and depression over the 6 months after the acute event, and post-hoc tests identified predictors of persistent or worsening symptoms. RESULTS: For both anxiety and depression, three common symptom trajectories were identified. Inhospital anxiety symptoms tended to persist over time, whereas inhospital depression symptoms resolved for some patients and worsened for others. A mental health history, younger age, smoking, financial stress, poor self-rated health, and social isolation were red flags for persistent anxiety and worsening depression. Additionally, diabetes, and other comorbidities were red flags for persistent anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight several potential red flags for increased risk of persistent anxiety or worsening depressive symptoms after a cardiac event, including demographic, psychosocial, and behavioural indicators. These red flags could assist with identification of at-risk patients on admission to or discharge from hospital, thereby enabling targeting of interventions. HubMed – depression

A tailored, supportive care intervention using systematic assessment designed for people with inoperable lung cancer: a randomised controlled trial.

Psychooncology. 2013 Jun 4;
Schofield P, Ugalde A, Gough K, Reece J, Krishnasamy M, Carey M, Ball D, Aranda S

OBJECTIVE: People with inoperable lung cancer experience higher levels of distress, more unmet needs and symptoms than other cancer patients. There is an urgent need to test innovative approaches to improve psychosocial and symptom outcomes in this group. This study tested the hypothesis that a tailored, multidisciplinary supportive care programme based on systematic needs assessment would reduce perceived unmet needs and distress and improve quality of life. METHODS: A randomised controlled trial design was used. The tailored intervention comprised two sessions at treatment commencement and completion. Sessions included a self-completed needs assessment, active listening, self-care education and communication of unmet psychosocial and symptom needs to the multidisciplinary team for management and referral. Outcomes were assessed with the Needs Assessment for Advanced Lung Cancer Patients, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Distress Thermometer and European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Q-C30 V2.0. RESULTS: One hundred and eight patients with a diagnosis of inoperable lung or pleural cancer (including mesothelioma) were recruited from a specialist facility before the trial closed prematurely (original target 200). None of the primary contrasts of interest were significant (all p?>?0.10), although change score analysis indicated a relative benefit from the intervention for unmet symptom needs at 8 and 12?weeks post-assessment (effect size?=?0.55 and 0.40, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although a novel approach, the hypothesis that the intervention would benefit perceived unmet needs, psychological morbidity, distress and health-related quality of life was not supported overall. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. HubMed – depression

Improvement of Major Depression is Associated with Increased Erythrocyte DHA.

Lipids. 2013 Jun 4;
Meyer BJ, Grenyer BF, Crowe T, Owen AJ, Grigonis-Deane EM, Howe PR

The aim of this study was to determine if changes in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid status following tuna oil supplementation correlated with changes in scores of depression. A total of 95 volunteers receiving treatment for major depression were randomised to consume 8 × 1 g capsules per day of HiDHA (2 g DHA, 0.6 g EPA and 10 mg Vitamin E) or olive oil (placebo) for 16 weeks, whilst undergoing weekly counseling sessions by trained clinical psychologists using a standard empirically validated psychotherapy. Depression status was assessed using the 17 item Hamilton rating scale for depression and the Beck Depression Inventory by a psychodiagnostician who was blind to the treatment. Blood was taken at baseline and 16 weeks (n = 48) for measurement of erythrocyte fatty acids. With HiDHA supplementation, erythrocyte DHA content rose from 4.1 ± 0.2 to 7.9 ± 0.4 % (mean ± SEM, p < 0.001) of total fatty acids but did not change (4.0 ± 0.2 to 4.1 ± 0.2 %) in the olive oil group. The mean changes in scores of depression did not differ significantly between the two groups (-12.2 ± 2.1 for tuna oil and -14.4 ± 2.3 for olive oil). However, analysis of covariance showed that in the fish oil group there was a significant correlation (r = -0.51) between the change in erythrocyte DHA and the change in scores of depression (p < 0.05). Further study of the relationship between DHA and depression is warranted. HubMed – depression

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