Is the population level of anxiety and depression associated with mortality? Data from the ESSE-RF study

Aim . To study the associations of subclinical and clinical anxiety and depression, assesed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), ≥8 points and ≥11 points, respectively, with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality, as well as with the total number of nonfatal cardiovascular events (CVEs) in Russia. Material and methods . The study included male and female population aged 25-64 years from the Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Diseases and their Risk Factors in Regions of Russian Federation (ESSE-RF) study who signed an informed consent. The study included 16941 people (men, 6811 (40,2%)). To assess the anxiety and depression, HADS scale was used. The statistical analysis included individuals with subclinical/clinical (HADS ≥8) and clinical (HADS ≥11) anxiety and depression (HADS-A and HADS-D). The median of prospective follow-up was 5,5 years (from 2012 to 2019). The composite endpoint (CE) (cardiovascular death and nonfatal CVE occurred in 268 (4,2%) men and 203 (2,1%) women, while all-cause — in 220 (3,2%) men and 152 (1,5%) women. Results . The results obtained showed that the survival rate of men and women with varying degrees of anxiety (HADS-A ≥8 and ≥11) was associated with all-cause mortality and CE in women. However, this relationship has not been confirmed in multivariate models. In the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model 1 (M1), a significant association of depression with all-cause mortality in women was revealed — HADS-D ≥8: relative risk (RR), 2,22; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1,56-3,15 and ≥11: RR, 2,43; 95% CI: 1,65-3,59 (p