ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the influence of anti-depression therapy on cardiac function and short-term prognosis in elderly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and the safety and effectiveness of fluoxetine in these patients.Methods Ninety six elderly hospitalized patients with CHF accompanied with depressive disorder were randomly divided into two groups:fluoxetine (20mg once daily)and placebo treated groups based on the routine cardiac drug therapy for 3 months. Results The prevalence rate of depressive disorder in elderly patients with CHF was 31.1%.The length of stay of fluoxetine group was shorter than that of placebo group.The post-treatment depressive exponents of self-rating depression scale(SDS)in fluoxetine group (51.39%?8.63)was lower than those in pretreatment and in placebo group.The improvement of cardiac function in fluoxetine group(53.4%?4.5%) was much better than that of placebo group (P