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Although epidemiologic studies have associated major depression with an increased risk for incident heart disease, researchers have failed to find an association between depression and objective measures of coronary artery disease severity. Now, investigators have examined the association between depression and coronary blood flow reserve (CFR), a function of vasodilator capacity of small arterioles and a putative preatherosclerotic heart disease risk factor. Data were from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry and involved 53 twin pairs discordant for major depression and 183 control twin pairs without major depression. All participants were male (mean age, 54). Most cases of depression were in remission.
To measure CFR, the investigators performed…