Correlation Between the New York Heart Association Functional Class with Depression in Heart Failure Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The prevalence of heart failure (HF) increases and presents as one of the most financially burden-some diseases. The prevalence of depression in HF patients was higher than in general populations. Depression was known to increase the rehospitalization, cost, and mortality of HF patients. Objective: This study aimed to find the correlation between the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Class in HF patients with the incidence of depression. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 342 patients diagnosed with HF previously for more than three months at Dr. Saiful Anwar General Hospital from December 2016 to March 2021. Each patient was interviewed for their demographic and clinical data and assessed for depression with Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale Indonesian version. We used Spearman coefficients to evaluate the correlations between variables. Results: Patients were predominantly male with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE-i)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) and beta-blocker (BB) treatment. Age ranged from 22 to 87 years old. The median baseline of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 52 (IQR 42-60) %. Baseline characteristics among the depression and non-depression groups demonstrated no significant difference (p >0.05). There were significant correlations between NYHA Class and marital status (p <0.05) with depression. We performed log regression for the confounding. The result was that NYHA Class was correlated with depression. Conclusion: In HF patients, NYHA Class was significantly correlated with depression.