Global Prevalence of Depression among Heart Failure Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract Objectives The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of depression among HF patients. Background Depression is one of the main risk factors of mortality and reduction in quality of life in patients with heart failure (HF). Despite individual studies, there is no comprehensive study on depression in HF patients. Methods In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed) were searched from January 1, 2000, to December 15, 2020. The keywords used included: depression and heart failure. The research stages including search, screening, quality evaluation, and extraction of study data were performed separately by two researchers. Results A total of 149 studies performed on 305407 HF patients entered the final stage. The global prevalence of any severity and moderate to severe severity of depression was 41.9% and 28.1%, respectively. The results of the subgroup analysis showed that the prevalence of depression was higher in women (45.5%) than in men. Also, according to the NHYA classification, the prevalence of depression in patients in stages three and four (54.7%) was higher than stages 1 and 2. The prevalence of depression was higher in the EMRO region (70.1%) and lower economic status countries (56.7%). Conclusions The high prevalence of depression among HF patients indicates the importance of paying more attention and providing the necessary training for patients to reduce depression.