Major depression and myocardial infarction in Italian adults.

The main aim of present work was to evaluate, for the first time in Italy, the weight of depression as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), in particular for myocardial infarction (MI). Clinical data of 215 subjects (153 women, 62 men; mean age 51.75±15.74) with a mood disorder and no previous history of CVD, were collected. Percentages of MI in sample population, grouped by age classes, were compared to those reported for the Italian population by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Statistical analyses were performed by the χ2 method. Prevalence for myocardial infarction in our study population was significantly higher than in ISTAT study (5.6% vs. 1.7%, p<0.001). When analysing data by gender, prevalence of MI resulted 4.6% vs. 1.1% in women (p<0.001) and 8% vs. 2.4% in men (p<0.005). Analysis by age and gender showed statistically significant results in the 45–54 and 65–69 ageclasses (prevalence: 5.4% vs. 0.4% and 17.7% vs. 2.2%, respectively; p<0.001) for women, and in the 45–54 class (22.2% vs. 1.5%, p