Does Depression Care Decrease Mortality?

Depression is associated with increased mortality, but can depression care decrease mortality risk? Researchers studied 1226 adults aged 60 or older who visited one of 20 primary care practices randomly assigned to offer usual care or depression care management; about half the patients had clinically significant minor or major depression. In the usual-care practices, physicians received educational sessions and were notified of their patients’ depression status. In care-management practices, both physicians and patients received education, and a depression care manager worked with physicians and psychiatric backup personnel to deliver guideline-based treatment (including citalopram and interpersonal therapy).

During 5 years, 115 of the 599 p…