Depressive symptoms are related with hemostatic factors in middle-aged women: A report from the Study of Women Health Across the Nation (SWAN)

OBJECTIVE: Depression may be a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) morbidity and mortality, but the mechanism(s) for the association are not established. The present study examined the relationship between one possible mechanism, hemostatic factors, and depressive symptoms in middle-aged women. METHOD: We measured levels of fibrinogen, Factor VIIc, plasminogen activator inhibitor antigen-1 (PAI-1), and tissue plasminogen activator antigen (TPA-ag) in 3,016 women aged 42-52 years enrolled in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), with scores > 16 suggestive of depression. RESULTS: Depressed women had high levels of all four hemostatic factors ( all p <0 .01). After controlling for age, smoking, ethnicity, prevalent cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and dia-betes, and use of medications (including psychotropics), depressed women still had elevated levels of fibrinogen (mean, 95% confidence intervals 299, 304 ­ 295 mg/dl vs. 291, 294 ­ 288mg/dl, p= 0.003) and Factor VIIc (124, 127 ­ 121 ng/dl vs. 119, 121 ­ 117 ng/dl, p= 0.01) levels, compared to nondepressed women. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that hemostatic factors may be a key me-chanism accounting for the relationship between depression and CHD. [Castilla RC, Bromberger JT, Zhang Y, Perel JM, Matthews KA. Depressive symptoms are related with hemostatic factors in middle-aged women: A report from the Study of Women Health Across the Nation (SWAN). MedUNAB 2004; 7:57-64

Musicoterapia

La música es desde algunos puntos de vista y en especial del psiquiátrico, un instrumento de importancia en el tratamiento de paciente con variadas patologías; entre ellos: geriátricos, psiquiátricos y con retardo mental. Se revisan algunos aspectos históricos, psicológicos, culturales y asistenciales, que ingresan día a día en el campo de la terapia musical. En nuestro medio son pocos los estudios que demuestran su utilidad específica, pero en el momento se adelantan investigaciones de este tipo con miras a determinar la verdadera influencia de la música en el bienestar y el comportamiento humano