Depression is highly prevalent in medically ill patients, increasing morbidity and mortality, and posing special treatment challenges for physicians. While the physical symptoms of medical illness can impact a patient’s recovery from depression, failure to diagnose, treat, and monitor compliance are among the specific challenges physicians face in treating the medically ill patient population. This presentation will include a review of data from several studies, including the Sertraline AntiDepressant Heart Attack Randomized Trial (SADHART), which shows that antidepressant therapy is safe and effective in medically ill patients and can improve depression in a wide range of illnesses, including stroke, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Antidepressant therapy has also been shown to enhance quality of life and improve some physical symptom outcomes. The use of antidepressants for functional syndromes will also be reviewed during this presentation, and implications for practice – including the potential to reduce service utilization – will be discussed.
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