Baroreflex Sensitivity Is Reduced in Depression

Abstract

Depression is independently associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, including sudden cardiac death, and this risk is observed even in patients who have been successfully treated for depression. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of impaired baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS) as a predisposing factor for sudden death in patients with manifest cardiac disease. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that BRS is impaired in subjects with depression in remission and with no other cardiac risk factors