Assessing depression in the cardiac patient. When is the appropriate time to assess depression in the patient undergoing coronary revascularization?

Depression is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease-related morbidity and mortality. It is common to screen for depression in patients undergoing coronary revascularization prior to revascularization; however, the validity of this assessment is unclear as some patients may experience transient, reactive depression rather than persistent depression. The authors evaluated whether an initial or 1-month postprocedure screen was optimal for identifying consistently depressed patients. Depression at 1-month postprocedure was a stronger predictor of depression at months 2 to 6 than baseline depression. After adjusting potential confounding variables, there was a much stronger relationship between 1-month and 6-month depression status (OR = 28.7 if depressed at 1 month, p < .001) than between baseline and 6-month depression status (OR = 6.5 if depressed at baseline, p < .001). Screening for depression at the time of revascularization is not as predictive of depression at 6 months as it is 1 month postprocedure.