Depression Care for Hospitalized Coronary Heart Disease Patients: Prospective Cohort Study

In patients with established CHD, unipolar depression is up to three times more prevalent than in the general population and increases the risk for coronary events and mortality, higher health care consumption and decreased quality of life. Most hospitals in Germany have a unique infrastructure of psychiatric, psychosomatic and psychosocial services for CHD patients (psychiatric/psychosomatic consultation liaison services and a wide network of inpatient or outpatient cardiac rehabilitation centers). However, as of today, little is known about the current use and acceptability of depression health care from the perspective of CHD patients.

This project has two main aims:

• to assess the current use of depression care in CHD patients who are hospitalized or receive ambulatory care at a cardiology clinic
• to provide estimates for the resources needed to implement guideline-oriented depression health care acceptable to CHD patients with comorbid depression.

Specifically, the investigators will assess

• rates of and satisfaction with depression health care use in hospitalized CHD patients within one year after hospitalization
• perceived need for depression care and patient preferences for different types, settings and providers of these services
• correlates of depression health care use and patient preferences
• the amount of patients in need for depression health care according to existing recommendations

The secondary objective is to assess direct and indirect costs associated with depressive symptoms and depression care use across 1 year (as indicated by quality of life, event-free survival, productivity, and health care costs).

Inclusion criteria

• chronic CHD (confirmed by a clinician)

Exclusion criteria

• chart-documented dementia disorder
• cognitive impairment
• life expectancy < 1 year
• unavailability for follow-up
• insufficient proficiency in German or Turkish language