It is necessary to understand more about the role of depression in cardiovascular disease, as well as the role of particular treatments for depression in cardiovascular disease. Overall, the current findings support the deleterious effect of depression in the context of cardiovascular disease on mortality, although major and minor depression conferred additional mortality risk for participants with heart disease regardless of whether they were in an intervention practice or usual care. The assumption that less depression will improve heart disease outcomes because the direction of association may be the other way around—better cardiovascular outcomes may result in remitted depression—has been questioned.[28] It was argued that, although observational studies show that decreasing depression improves outcomes of cardiovascular disease, randomized trials have not shown benefit.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in March 2010, provides new impetus for treating medical comorbidity and depression. Highlighted was the need for better communication between mental health and primary care, the inclusion of mental health management in the medical home model for diabetes mellitus and other conditions, and new models of integrated healthcare delivery. Integrated care is a promising development for management of complex older adults with comorbid conditions such as diabetes mellitus and depression.