Depression as a predictor for appropriate shocks among patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: Results from the Triggers of Ventricular Arrhythmias (TOVA) study Original Research Article

Objectives We sought to examine the relationship between symptoms of depression and shock-treated ventricular arrhythmias among implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients. Background Depression predicts mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), but whether this is via an increased risk of fatal ventricular arrhythmias is unclear. Methods We prospectively analyzed data on symptoms of depression and risk of ventricular arrhythmia (ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation [VT/VF]) resulting in ICD discharge in the Triggers of Ventricular Arrhythmias (TOVA) study. Symptoms were assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Scores of 16 to 26 and ≥27 represented mild and moderate/severe depression, respectively. The Cox and Anderson-Gill proportional hazards models were used to test for associations among all patients and patients with CAD. Results Among 645 patients with baseline assessments, 90 (14%) were mildly depressed and 25 (3.9%) were moderately to severely depressed. Moderate/severe depression was associated with time to first shock for VT/VF (hazard ratio [HR] 3.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 9.9) and all shocks for VT/VF including recurrent episodes (HR 3.2, 95% CI 1.2 to 8.6). Among the 476 CAD patients, the association with time to first shock (HR 6.4, 95% CI 1.9 to 21.1) and all shocks (HR 8.3, 95% CI 2.9 to 23.3) remained. The risk of shock for VT/VF was associated with depression severity in the total population (p for trend = 0.02) and among patients with CAD (p < 0.01), even after controlling for multiple confounders. Conclusions More severe symptoms of depression predict shocks for VT/VF among ICD patients. The elevated risk of VT/VF among patients with CAD and depression suggests that arrhythmia may contribute significantly to total mortality in this subgroup.