Approximately 20 % of patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) meet diagnostic criteria for depression and an even greater percentage of patients will report at least a few symptoms of depression (Carney and Freedland, 2008). Depression and depressive symptoms are widely overlooked among these patients (Ellis idr., 2005; Vaccarino et. al., 2019; Steptoe and Whitehead, 2005). In our study we focused on CHD patients and the presence of depressive symptoms among them. We were interested in how many patients in our sample were diagnosed with depression and how many patients reported having depressive symptoms that might indicate clinically severe depression, but received no medical treatment. We were also interested in the differences between the presence of depressive symptoms and levels of behavioural risk factors (medication adherence, physical activity and smoking and body mass index). Our sample consisted of 81 participants with CHD, age ranging from 52 to 91 years. For the estimation of depressive symptoms we used Beck’s depression inventory – second edition (BDI-II). In our questionnaire we also collected data in regard to body weight and height (this data was used for calculating body mass index), years of established CHD diagnosis, established diagnosis of depression, medication adherence, physical activity and smoking habits. Our data showed that the majority of participants experienced minimal depressive symptoms. Almost all participants that reported experiencing depressive symptoms that would fall in category mild, moderate, or severe depression symptoms did not have established diagnosis of depression and did not receive any medical attention for their depressive symptoms. Correlations between depressive symptoms and behavioural risk factors were statistically insignificant. Depressive symptoms also did not correlate with sex and age of participants.
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