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Depression (especially, anhedonia) worsens morbidity and mortality in patients with coronary heart disease (e.g., Journal Watch Psychiatry Jun 14 2010). In this meta-analysis of 18 studies involving 787 depressed patients and 407 healthy controls, researchers examined the effects of depression and its treatment on heart rate variability (HRV); reduced HRV is a predictor of sudden death. Participants did not have cardiovascular disease, which avoided confounding interactions between depression and heart disease.
Depressed patients had less HRV on most measures than controls; greater reductions in HRV were associated with greater severity of depression. In the six studies involving monotherapy with an antidepressant (N=186), tricyclic antidepr…