Objective: To date, there are no literature reports combining the relationship between depression and chronic heart failure (CHF) in relations to selective nutritional, cardiac and laboratory parameters. The aim of this study was to correlate the rs1799964 genotypes in TNF-α with clinical outcomes of depressive CHF patients.
Patients and methods: 94 CHF patients were enrolled to assess depression prevalence and to compare values of cardiac, laboratory and nutritional parameters between depressed and non-depressed patients with different rs1799964 genotypes.
Results: Depression was diagnosed in 66 individuals (70.2%). We noted significant reduction of EF% in CC genotype carriers compared to other patients (mean EF%: 36±11 CC vs. 44±14 CT and 46±7 TT; p=0.023) and worse outcomes in NYHA examination (p=0.033). We noticed a significant increase in serum CRP and TNF-α in CC patients (p=0.003 and p<0.001). Compared with T allele carriers, the CHF patients bearing CC genotype were more frequently diagnosed as cachectic (cachexia incidence for CC - 80% vs. 28% for CT and 38.7% for TT; p=0.017). CC genotype of rs1799964 was found as unfavorable factor affecting survival of depressive CHF patients (HR=8.87; p<0.001).
Conclusions: The presence of the CC genotype in patients with depression and CHF can be considered an unfavorable prognostic factor related to the risk of shortening the life expectancy and deteriorating its quality, which is reflected in the severity of inflammation.