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(Circulation. 2008;117:2309-2310.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Clinical Summaries

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Depressive Symptoms and the Risk of Atherosclerotic Progression Among Patients With Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts

 
Depression and depressive symptoms are highly prevalent among patients with coronary artery disease and independently predict adverse cardiovascular events. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this association, including decreased adherence to treatment and increased prevalence of unfavorable lifestyle characteristics, among others; however, few studies have investigated the potential link between depressive symptoms and progression of atherosclerosis. Accordingly, we evaluated the hypothesis that depressive symptoms are associated with progression of atherosclerosis among individuals with previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery and saphenous vein grafts enrolled in the Post-CABG Trial. Depressive symptoms over the previous week were assessed at trial enrollment, and quantitative coronary angiography was conducted at enrollment and 4 to 5 years later. We found that the presence of depressive symptoms was associated with a higher risk of substantial progression of saphenous vein graft atherosclerosis and a decrease in minimum lumen diameter and that this association was virtually eliminated by random assignment to aggressive lipid lowering with high-dose lovastatin. Our analysis provides prospective evidence for a direct association between depressive symptoms and atherosclerotic progression as a potential mechanism for the corresponding association of depressive symptoms with clinical prognosis. See p 2313.

	Prevalence, Predictors, and Prognostic Value of Renal Dysfunction in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

 
The prognosis of adults with congenital heart disease is importantly influenced by noncardiac comorbidities. In this study on 1102 adult patients with congenital heart disease from a single specialist center, renal dysfunction was found to be a common complication of congenital heart disease, with 41% of patients having mild and 9% having moderate or severe reduction in . . . [Full Text of this Article]