Association of depression and anxiety with coronary artery plaque among asymptomatic adults: The Miami Heart study (MiHeart) at Baptist Health South Florida.

Purpose: We investigated the associations of depression and anxiety with the presence of coronary artery plaque amongst a diverse cohort of adults without clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the Miami Heart Study at baseline. Depression was ascertained by the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) with a score ≥10 indicating depression. Anxiety was assessed by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) questionnaire with a score ≥10 demonstrating anxiety. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the association of either depression or anxiety with the presence of any plaque on CCTA. Sensitivity analyses further examined the severity of depressive symptoms, severity of anxiety symptoms, individuals with either depression or anxiety, and individuals with both as predictors of coronary plaque.

Results: Of the 2356 individuals (mean age 53.4 ± 6.8 years), 50.4% were men and 47.1% were of Hispanic ethnicity. Depression and anxiety were identified in 143 (6.1%) and 224 (9.5%) of individuals, respectively. CCTA-identified plaque was present in 49.0% of participants with depression and 54.0% of those with anxiety, and the presence of any plaque did not significantly differ when compared to those without depression or without anxiety, respectively. There were no statistically significant associations between depression and plaque (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.03; 95%CI [0.70, 1.52]; p = 0.891) or between anxiety and plaque (aOR: 1.27; 95%CI [0.93, 1.73]; p = 0.138) in all regression models.

Conclusions: Our study did not identify an association of depression, anxiety, their combination, or their severity with coronary plaque on CCTA among a large cohort of asymptomatic adults.