Depression and cardiovascular diseases among Canadian older adults: a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the CLSA Comprehensive Cohort

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether cardiovascular disease (CVD) is associated with depression status. METHODS: 29,328 participants from baseline of Canadian Longitudinal Study for Aging were categorized into four groups of depression status. Group 1: no depression (reference); Group 2: currently with depression symptom (CES-D10 score ≥ 10, negative self-reported depression); Group 3: self-reported depression with no current symptom (CES-D10 score < 10, positive self-reported depression); and Group 4: self-reported depression with current symptom (CES-D10 score ≥ 10, self-reported depression). Six self-reported CVDs were grouped into two related disorders, i.e., heart related disorders (HRD) including heart disease, myocardial infarction, and angina; and peripheral/vascular related disorders (PRD) including hypertension, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were used to evaluate the associations between depression and CVDs. RESULTS: 17.3% of participants had self-reported depression, 15.3% were with current depression symptom, 10.5% were with HRD and 34.4% were with PRD. After adjusting for variables of demographics, sex, lifestyles, and comorbidities, compared to reference, people in Group 2 had a slightly increased odds, but most of them were not statistically significant; the ORs (95% CI) were 1.36 (1.18–1.58, P < 0.0001) for HRD and 1.20 (1.09–1.32, P < 0.001) for PRD in Group 3; for people in Group 4, the ORs (95% CI) were 1.31 (1.08–1.61, P < 0.01) for HRD and 1.17 (1.02–1.34, P < 0.05) for PRD. Sex- and age-stratified analyses suggested that the increased ORs were more prevalent in men and people aged < 65 years. CONCLUSIONS: Seniors with self-reported depression are associated with an increased risk of CVDs, the association varies by depression status, sex and age.