By david Liu, PHD

Sunday Aug 26, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- The prognosis of heart failure is not too bad compared to heart attack.  But the long term survival odds for heart failure patients who also suffer depression are lower than that for those without depression, according to a new study in Psychosomatics.

Julie Adams of Duke University in Durham, NC and colleagues conducted the study and found patients with chronic heart failure who experienced depression were 35 percent more likely to die than those heart failure patients without depression during a 12-year follow-up.

The authors say the survival of patients with heart failure was already associated with depression for a 7-year follow-up.  The current study showed a similar association during a 12-year follow-up.

Adams et al. followed 985 participants with heart failure for 12 years. The patients were admitted to a cardiology service at Duke University Medical Center between arch 1997 and June 2003 and completed the beck Depression Inventory scale.

During the follow-up, 733 of the 985 heart failure patients died of all causes. The death rate in the patients with depression was 80 percent, compared with 73 percent in those without depression.  It was also found that the survival odds were inversely associated with depression severity.

The researchers say "more investigation is needed to understand the trajectory of depression and the mechanisms underlying the impact of depression as well as to identify effective management strategies for depression of patients with HF (heart failure).

Death risk from heart failure may be reduced by taking dietary supplements including vitamin d, fish oil, CoQ10, L-carnitine, vitamin C, and some Chinese medicine.