Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003;2003(3):CD004394.
doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004394.

Psychological interventions for depression in adolescent and adult congenital heart disease

G Y H Lip  1 , D A Lane, T A Millane, M H Tayebjee
Affiliations

Psychological interventions for depression in adolescent and adult congenital heart disease

G Y H Lip et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003.

Abstract

Background: Adult and adolescent congenital heart disease is increasing in prevalence as better medical care means more children are surviving to adulthood. People with chromic disease often also experience depression. There are several non-pharmacological treatments that might be effective in treating depression and improving quality of life for adults and young adults with congenital heart disease. The aim of this review was to assess the effects of treatments such as psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapies and talking therapies for treating depression in this population.

Objectives: To assess the effects (both harms and benefits) of psychological interventions for treating depression in young adults and adults with congenital heart disease.

Search strategy: We searched the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR) (on The Cochrane Library issue 4, 2002), MEDLINE (1966 to August 2002), EMBASE (1980 to August 2002), PsycLIT (1887 to August 2002), the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) (Issue 4, 2002 of the Cochrane Library), Biological Abstracts (January 1980 to August 2002), and CINAHL (January 1980 to August 2002). Abstracts from national and international cardiology and psychology conferences and dissertation abstracts were also searched.

Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials comparing psychological interventions with no intervention for people over 15 years with depression who have congenital heart disease.

Data collection and analysis: Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts of studies that were potentially relevant to the review. Studies that were clearly ineligible were rejected. Two reviewers independently assessed the abstracts or full papers for inclusion criteria. Further information was sought from the authors where papers contained insufficient information to make a decision about eligibility.

Main results: No randomised controlled trials were identified.

Reviewer's conclusions: Depression is common in patients with congenital heart disease and can exacerbate the physical consequences of the illness. There are effective pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for depression, but we have not been able to identify any trials showing the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatments. A well designed randomised controlled trial is needed to assess the effects of psychological interventions for depression in congenital heart disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None known

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

References to studies included in this review

De La Fourniere 1997 {published data only}
    1. Fourniere F, Ferry M, Cnockaert X, Chahwakilian A, Hugonot‐Diener L, Baumann F, Nedelec C, Buronfosse D, Meignan S, Fauchier C, Attar C, Belmin J, Piette F. Vitamin B12 deficiency and dementia a multicenter epidemiologic and therapeutic study preliminary therapeutic trial [Deficience en vitamine B12 et etat dementiel etude epidemiologique multicentrique et therapeutique essai preliminaire]. Semaine Des Hopitaux 1997;73(5‐6):133‐40.
Hvas 2004 {published data only}
    1. Hvas AM, Juul S, Lauritzen L, Nexo E, Ellegaard J. No effect of vitamin B12 treatment on cognitive function and depression: a randomized placebo controlled study. Journal of Affective Disorders 2004;81:269‐73. - PubMed
Seal 2002 {published data only}
    1. Seal EC, Metz J, Flicker L, Melny J. A randomized double blind placebo controlled study of oral vitamin B12 supplementation in older patients with subnormal or borderline serum vitamin B12 concentrations. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2002;50(1):146‐51. - PubMed

References to studies excluded from this review

Abyad 2002 {published data only}
    1. Abyad A. Prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency among demented patients and cognitive recovery with cobalamin replacement. Journal of nutrition, health and aging 2002;6(4):245‐60. - PubMed
Eastley 2000 {published data only}
    1. Eastley R, Wilcock G, Bucks R. Vitamin B12 deficiency in demented and cognitive impairment the effects of treatment on neuropsychological function. International journal of geriatric psychiatry 2000;15:226‐23. - PubMed
Hughes 1970 {published data only}
    1. Hughes D, Elwood PC, Shinton NK, Wrighton RJ. Clinical trial of the effect of vitamin B12 in elderly subjects with low serum B12 levels. British Medical Journal 1970;unknown:458‐60. - PMC - PubMed
Kwok 1998 {published data only}
    1. Kwok T, Tang C, Woo J, Lai WK, Law LK, Pang CP. Randomized trial of the effect of supplementation on the cognitive function of older people with subnormal cobalamin levels. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 1998;13(9):611‐6. - PubMed
Martin 1992 {published data only}
    1. Martin DC, Francis J, Protech J, Jacob H. Time dependency of cognitive recovery with cobalamin replacement report of a pilot study. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 1992;40:168‐72. - PubMed
Nagga 2002 {published data only}
    1. Nagga K, Lindehammar H, Marcusson J. [Effects of cobalamin supplementation a study on dementia patients with cobalamin deficiency]. The 8th international conference on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, Stockholm, Sweden. 2002.
Takao 2001 {published data only}
    1. Takao I, Yamadera‐Hiroshi I, Ritsuko I, Suzuki H. Effects of vitamin B12 on bright light on cognitive and sleep wake rhythm in Alzheimer type dementia. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 2001;55:281‐82. - PubMed
Teunisse 1996 {published data only}
    1. Teunisse S, Bollen AE, Gool WA, Walstra GJM. Dementia and subnormal levels of vitamin B12 effects of replacement therapy on dementia. Journal of Neurology 1996;243:522‐9. - PubMed

Additional references

Baik 1999
    1. Baik HW, Russell RM. Vitamin B12 deficiency in the elderly. Annual Review of Nutrition 1999;19:357‐77. - PubMed
Bech 2001
    1. Bech P, Rasmussen NA, Olsen LR, Noerholm V, Abildgaard W. The sensitivity and specificity of the major depression inventory using the present state examination as the index diagnostic validity. J. Affect. Disord 2001;66:159‐64. - PubMed
Byrne 1987
    1. Byrne EJ. Reversible dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 1987;2:73‐81.
Carmel 1995
    1. Carmel R, Gott PS, Waters CH, Cairo K, Green R, Bondareff W, DeGiorgio CM, Cummings JL, Jacobsen DW, Buckwalter G, et al. The frequently low cobalamin levels in dementia usually signify treatable metabolic, neurologic and electrophysiologic abnormalities.. European journal of haematology 1995; Vol. 54, issue 4:245‐53. - PubMed
Chalmers 1983
    1. Chalmers TC, Celano P, Sacks HS, Smith H. Bias in treatment assignment in controlled clinical trials. New England Journal of Medicine 1983;309:1358‐61. - PubMed
Clarfield 1988
    1. Clarfield AM. The reversible dementia do they reverse. Annales of Internal Medicine 1988;109:476‐85. - PubMed
Clarke 1991
    1. Clarke R, Day L, Robinson K, Naughten E, Cahalance S, Fowler B, Graham I. Hyperhomocysteinemia an independent risk factor for vascular disease. New England Journal of Medicine 1991;324:1149‐55. - PubMed
Clarke 1998
    1. Clarke R, Smith AD, Jobst KA, Refsum H, Sutton L, Ueland PM. Folate, vitamin B12, and serum total homocysteine levels in confirmed Alzheimer disease.. Archives of neurology 1998; Vol. 55, issue 11:1449‐55. - PubMed
Crowe 1997
    1. Crowe SE, Ross CK. Effect of folate deficiency and folate and B12 excess on memory functioning in young chicks. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav 1997;February:189‐97. - PubMed
Elsborg 1976
    1. Elsborg L, Lund V, Bastrup‐Madsen P. Serum B12 levels in the aged. Acta Medica Scandinavia 1976;200:209‐314. - PubMed
Elwood 1971
    1. Elwood PC, Shinton NK, Wilson CID. Haemoglobin vitamin B12 and folate levels in the elderly. British Journal of haematology 1971;21:557‐63. - PubMed
Erkinjuntti 1986
    1. Erkinjuntti T, Wikstrom J, Palo J. Dementia among medical inpatients evaluation of 2000 admissions. Archives of Internal Medicine 1986;146:1923‐26. - PubMed
Firkin 1989
    1. Firkin F. De Gruchy's Clinical haematology in medical practice. 5th Edition. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.
Folstein 1975
    1. Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. Mini mental state a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research 1975;12:189‐98. - PubMed
Gaffney 1957
    1. Gaffney GW, Horonick A, Okuda K, et al. Vitamin B12 concentrations in 528 apparently healthy human subjects of ages 12‐24. Journal of Gerantology 1957;12:32‐8. - PubMed
Goodwin 1983
    1. Goodwin JS, Goodwin Jm, Garry PJ. Association between nutritional status and cognitive functioning in a healthy elderly population. Journal of the American Medical Association 1983;249:2917‐21. - PubMed
Healton 1991
    1. Healton EB, Savage DG, Brust JCM. Neurologic aspects of cobalamin deficiency. Medicine 1991;70:229‐45. - PubMed
Hector 1988
    1. Hector M, Burton JR. What are the psychiatric manifestations of vitamin B12 deficiency. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 1988;36:1105‐12. - PubMed
Herbert 1996
    1. Herbert V. Life science: In present knowledge in nutrition. Washington: Inst Press, 1996.
Ikeda 1992
    1. Ikeda T// Yamamoto K// Takahashi K// kaku Y// Uchiyama M //Yamada M Treatment of Alzheimer‐type dementia with intravenous mecobalamin. Clinical therapeutics 1992, 14, 3: 426‐73. Treatment of Alzheimer type dementia with intravenous mecobalamin. Clinical Therapeutica 1992;14(3):426‐73. - PubMed
Joosten 1997
    1. Joosten E, Lesaffre E, Ghekiere V, Deremaeker L, Pelemans W, Dejaeger E. Is metaolic evidence for vitamin b12 and folate deficiency more freguent in elderly patients with alzheimer's disease. Journal of Gerontology A bio sci Med Sci 1997;52:M76‐9. - PubMed
Jorm 1990
    1. Jorm AF. The epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. London: Champan and Hall, 1990.
Kilpatrick 1965
    1. Kilpatrick GS, Withey JL. The serum B12 concentration in the general population. Scand J Heamatol 1965;2:220‐9. - PubMed
Kwan 2002
    1. Kwan LL, Bermudez OI, Tucker KL. Low vitamin B‐12 intake and status are more prevalent in Hispanic older adults of Caribbean origin than in neighborhood‐matched non‐Hispanic whites.. Journal of nutrition, The 2002; Vol. 132, issue 7:2059‐64. - PubMed
La Rue 1997
    1. Rue A, Koehler KM, Wayne SJ, Chiulli SJ, Haaland KY, Garry PJ. Nutritional status and cognitive functioning in a normally aging sample: a 6‐y reassessment. American journal of clinical nutrition, The 1997; Vol. 65, issue 1:20‐9. - PubMed
Larson 1985
    1. Lrson EB, Reifler BV, Sumi SM. Diagnostic evaluation of 200 eldely outpatients with suspected dementia. Journal of Gerontology 1985;40:356‐43. - PubMed
Levitt 1992
    1. Levitt AJ, Karlinsky H. Folate vitamin B12 and cognitive impairment in patients with alzheimer's disease. Acta Psychiatrica Scandanavica 1992;86:301‐05. - PubMed
Lindenbaum 1994
    1. Lindenbaum J, Rosenberg I, Wilson PWF, Stabler S, Allen RH. Prevalence of cobalamin deficiency in the Framingham elderly population. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994;60:2‐11. - PubMed
Malouf 2003a
    1. Malouf R, Grimley Evans J, Areosa Sastre A. Folic acid with or without vitamin B12 for cognition and dementia. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2003, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD004514. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004514. - PubMed
Marcell 1985
    1. Marcell PD, Stabler SP, Podell ER, Allen RH. Quantitation of methylmalonic acid and other dicarboxylic acids in normal serum and urine using capillary gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Analytical biochemistry 1985; Vol. 150, issue 1:58‐66. - PubMed
Marcus 1987
    1. Marcus DL, Shadick N, Crantz J, Gray M, Hernandez F, Freedman ML. Low serum B12 levels in a hematologically normal elderly subpopulation. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 1987; Vol. 35, issue 7:635‐8. - PubMed
Marsden 1972
    1. Marsden CD, Harrison MJG. Presenile dementia. British Medical Journal 1972;2:249‐52. - PMC - PubMed
Matcher 1994
    1. Matcher DB, McCrory DC, Millington DS, Feusser JR. Performance of serum cobalamin assay for diagnosis of cobalamin deficiency. Am J Med Science 1994;304:276‐83. - PubMed
McCaddon 2001
    1. McCaddon A, Husdon P, Davis G, Hughes A, Williams JHH, Wilkinson C. Homocysteine and cognitive decline in healthy elderly. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 2001;12:309‐13. - PubMed
Meins 2000
    1. Meins W, Muller‐Thomnen T, Meier‐Baumgartner HP. Subnormal serum vitamin B12 and behavioural and psychological sympyoms in Alzheimer's disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 2000;15(5):415‐8. - PubMed
Metz 1996
    1. Metz J, Bell A, Flicker L, Bottiglieri T, Ibrahim J, Seal E, Schultz D, Savioa D, Mcgrath KM. The significance of subnormal serum vitamin B12 concentration in the elderly a case study. Journal of American Geriatric Society 1996;44:1355‐41. - PubMed
Mulrow 1997
    1. Mulrow CD, Oxman AD. Cochrane Collaboration Handbook. The Cochrane Collaboration, issue 1, updated quarterly. Oxford: Update Software, 1997.
Nielsen 1995
    1. Nielsen H, Lolk A, Krag‐Sorensen P. Normative data for eight neuropsychological tests gathered from a random sample of Danes aged 64‐83 years. Nordisk Psykologi 1995;47:241‐55.
Pennypacker 1992
    1. Pennypacker LC, Allen RH, Kelly JP, Matthews LM, Grigsby J, Kaye K, Lindenbaum J, Sally S. High prevalence of cobalamin deficiency in elderly outpatients. Journal of the American geriatric society 1992;40:1197‐04. - PubMed
Regland 1999
    1. Regland B, Blennow K, Germgard T, Hoch Scmidt AC, Gottfries CG. The role of the polymorphic genes apolipoprotein E and methyle‐tetrahydrofolate reductase in the development of dementia Alzheimer type. Dementia Geriatr Cog Disord 1999;10:245‐51. - PubMed
Riggs 1996
    1. Riggs KM, Spire A, Tucker K, Rush D. Relations of vitamin B12 vitamin B6 folate and homocysteine to cognitive function in the normative aging study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1996;63:306‐14. - PubMed
Rosen 1984
    1. Rosen WG, Mohs RC, Davis KL. A new rating scale for Alzheimer's disease. American Journal of Psychiatry 1984;141:1356‐64. - PubMed
Roth 1986
    1. Roth M, Tym E, Mountjoy CQ, Huppert FA, Hendrie H, et al. CAMDEX. A standardised instrument for the diagnosis of mental disorder in the elderly with special reference to the elderly with special reference to the early detection of dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry 1986;149:698‐09. - PubMed
Schulz 1995
    1. Schulz KF, Chalmers I, Hayes RJ, Altman D. Empirical evidence of bais. Journal of American Medical Association 1995;273:408‐12. - PubMed
Shahar 2001
    1. Shahar A, Feigen L, Shara DR, Levy S, Seligsohn U. High prevalence and impact of subnormal serum vitamin B12 levels in Israeil elders admits to a geriatric hospital. Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging 2001;52:124‐7. - PubMed
Shulman 1967
    1. Shulman R. Psychiatric aspects of pernicious anaemia a prospective controlled investigation. British Medical Journal 1967;3:266‐70. - PMC - PubMed
Stabler 1986
    1. Stabler SP, Marcell PD, Podell ER, Allen RH, Lindenbaum J. Assay of methylmalonic acid in the serum of patients with cobalamin deficiency using capillary gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Journal of clinical investigation, The 1986; Vol. 77, issue 5:1606‐12. - PMC - PubMed
Stabler 1990
    1. Stabler SP, Aleen Rh, Savage DG, Lindenbaum J. Clinical spectrum and diagnosis of cobalamin deficiency. Blood 1990;79:871‐81. - PubMed
Stabler 1997
    1. Stabler SP, Lindenbaum J, Allen RH. Vitamin B12 deficiency in the elderly current dilemmas. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1997;66:741‐59. - PubMed
Tripathi 2001
    1. Tripathi M, Sheshadri S, Padma MV, Jain S, Meheshwari MC, Behari M. Serum cobalamin levels in dementias. Neurology India 2001;49:284‐86. - PubMed
Van Asselt 1998
    1. Asselt DZB, Groot Lcpgm, Staveren WA, et al. Role of cobalamin intake and atrophic gastritis in mild cobalamin deficiency in older Dutch subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998;68:328‐34. - PubMed
van Asselt 2001
    1. Asselt DZ, Pasman JW, Lier HJ, Vingerhoets DM, Poels PJ, Kuin Y, Blom HJ, Hoefnagels WH. Cobalamin supplementation improves cognitive and cerebral function in older, cobalamin‐deficient persons.. Journals of gerontology, The. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 2001; Vol. 56, issue 12:M775‐9. - PubMed
Walstra 1997
    1. Walstra GJM, Tunisse S, Gool WA, Creuel H. Reversible dementia in elderly patients referred to a memory clinic. Journal of Neurology 1997;244(1):71‐22. - PubMed
Wivel 1988
    1. Wivel ME. NIMH report. NIH consensus conference stresses need to identify reversible causes of dementia. Hosp‐Community‐Psychiatry 1988;39(1):22‐3. [MEDLINE: ] - PubMed

References to other published versions of this review

Malouf 2003b
    1. Malouf R, Areosa Sastre A. Vitamin B12 for cognition. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2003, Issue 3. [DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004394] - DOI - PubMed

Publication types