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By Michael Oliveira
The Canadian Press

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TORONTO - A new study released Wednesday suggests there may be a connection between feeling blue and developing heart disease in middle-aged women.

Statistics Canada tracked the health of nearly 5,000 men and women aged 40 or older over a 12-year period and found women had significantly higher risks of being diagnosed with heart disease if they had suffered with depression at some point.

Women had a 70 per cent greater risk of developing heart disease if they had been depressed, but for men the increased risk was less than one per cent, said the study's author, Heather Gilmour.

It was the first time potential links between depression and heart disease among Canadians had been studied at a national level and the results were similar but somewhat different compared to international findings.

Other studies had found men who dealt with depression also had a higher risk of getting heart disease. Gilmour said the results might have been similar here if the study period was longer, since the disease takes a long time to develop.

"That was kind of an interesting thing to think about - why didn't we see (higher risk) for men in our study - and I think possibly one of the reasons is that the followup period wasn't long enough," she said from Ottawa.

"It's something that could well emerge within another few years of data. The trend is there, but it didn't reach statistical significance."

Another interesting revelation in the data was a correlation between depression and heart disease that goes beyond the bad habits that are typically common risk factors, such as smoking, alcohol and drug use, poor physical fitness and overeating, Gilmour said.

"One theory is that these people that have depression have poorer lifestyle habits which could lead them to develop heart disease," she said.

"But what's interesting is even in this study that accounts for those factors there's still something over and above that. There's something else about depression besides these health-related behaviours that is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, and that could be a physiological factor."

She said the value of the study will be in raising awareness that people with depression - particularly women - should be monitored for the development of health disease.

According to the study, heart disease is the second leading cause of disability for men and the third leading cause for women worldwide, while depression is the fourth leading cause of disability among men and the leading cause among women.

Depression has also been found to negatively affect the health of people who have had heart attacks.

Of the 4,948 people tracked in the study, 16.8 per cent of the women and 10.9 per cent of the men said they experienced depression at least once over the 12-year time period.