Abnormal Elastic Properties of Aorta in Patients with Major Depression

Depression is closely associated with cardiovascular disorders via versatile mechanisms. It may have particularly great effects on vascular structures. So we aimed to evaluate the elastic properties of aorta in patients with depression. Forty patients with depression (16 male and 24 female, 32.5+/-7) and 36 normal subjects (15 male and 21 female, 30.1+/-3.1) were consecutively performed echocardiographic examination. Indexes of aortic stiffness, aortic distensibility, and aortic strain were calculated by using systolic-diastolic aortic diameters and simultaneously measured systolic-diastolic blood pressures (SBP, DBP). Statistical analysis was performed by Chi-square test and Independent Samples t test using SPSS 11.0 for Windows. Clinical features (heart rate, SBP, etc) and echocardiographic measurements except diastolic blood pressure (78.2+/-5.1 vs 72.4+/-7.3, p<0.05) were not significantly different between groups. Aortic stiffness was significantly increased (9.02+/-2.3 vs 6.6+/-2.4, p=0.03), whereas aortic strain (6.29+/-2.6 vs 7.5+/-2.3, p=0.01) and aortic distensibility (5.06+/-2.0 vs 6.16+/-1.7, p=0.03) were significantly reduced in patients with depression. Increased arterial rigidity in patients with depression may contribute to the increased cardiovascular risk in depression. This may be reflected by increase in diastolic blood pressure. Management of depression and also further evaluation for cardiovascular diseases are important in order to prevent vascular complications at long term.