This research aimed to evaluate the prevalence of psychic depression in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the interdependency with risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD).

Prospective stdy of patients consecutively admitted with ACS and screening for depression through the Beck Depression Scale, which was used within the first 5 days after admission. Patients who presented simultaneous diagnosis of severe neoplasia, use of antidepressant medication, incapability to communicate or comprehend, were excluded from the research. Statistical analysis included the t test of Student or Mann-Whitney, qui-square test or Fisher's exact test and the log-linear model to evaluate interdependency among risk factors for CAD.

98 out of the 135 patients admitted with ACS presented acute myocardial infarction, while 37 presented unstable angina, mean age of 61.8 years,of which 40% were female.Prevalence of depression in this study was 53.3%. (n=72) distributed in three groups according to the degree of intensity:28.1% with mild depression,14.1%moderated depression, and 11.1% with severe depresion. Among in-hospital deaths, 88.9% (n=8) were in patients with depression and only 11.1% (n=1) in patients without depression, with relative risk 0f 6.99 (p=0.027) Depression was more prevalent in female patients. Depression was present in association with great numbers of risk factors: dislipidemia, sedentary habits, sex (p=0.0259), family history systemic arterial disease and hypertension (p=0.0098)

The results of this study show a high prevalence of psychic depression among patients with acute coronary syndrome with elevated mortality risk and interdependency with other risk factors.