In this sample of veterans with no recent (24-month) history of depression or opioid analgesic use, the risk of development of depression increased as the duration of opioid analgesic exposure increased. The potential for depressogenic effect should be considered in risk-benefit discussions, and patients initiating opioid treatment should be monitored for development of depression.

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OBJECTIVETo investigate major depressive disorder (MDD), which complicates the course of type 2 diabetes and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. This risk may be due to a greater susceptibility for myocardial infarction (MI) in depressed patients with type 2 diabetes compared with nondepressed patients with type 2 diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSVeterans Administration electronic medical records were analyzed to identify a cohort free of cardiovascular disease in fiscal years 1999 and 2000, aged 25 to 80 years. ICD-9-CM codes were used to create a four-level risk group indicating 1) neither diabetes nor MDD (n = 214,749), 2) MDD alone (n = 77,568), 3) type 2 diabetes alone (n = 40,953), and 4) comorbid MDD and type 2 diabetes (n = 12,679). Age-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were computed before and after adjusting for baseline sociodemographic and time-dependent covariates.RESULTSAfter adjusting for covariates, patients with type 2 diabetes alone and patients with MDD alone were at ∼30% increased risk for MI, and patients with type 2 diabetes and MDD were at 82% increased risk for MI (hazard ratio 1.82 [95% CI 1.69–1.97]) compared with patients without either condition.CONCLUSIONSCompared with patients with only diabetes or only MDD, individuals with type 2 diabetes and MDD are at increased risk for new-onset MI. Monitoring cardiovascular health in depressed patients with type 2 diabetes may reduce the risk of MI in this especially high-risk group.

All-cause mortality following an acute myocardial infarction is greatest in patients with depression who are insufficiently treated and is a risk in patients with treatment-resistant depression. However, the risk of mortality associated with treatment-resistant depression is partly explained by comorbid disorders. Further studies are warranted to determine whether changes in depression independently predict all-cause mortality.