Cardiovascular risk prediction tools could be improved with the inclusion of questions about a patient’s history of depression, UK researchers suggest.

The proposal follows their findings that comorbid hypertension and major depressive disorder confer a greater risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalisation than hypertension alone.

In a prospective study, researchers from the University of Glasgow analysed data from 135,000 middle-aged people in a large population cohort — the UK Biobank registry — to determine if comorbid major depressive disorder and hypertension influenced first-onset adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

The cohort completed psychiatric questions relating to the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria at a baseline interview and were followed up over an average of 63 months.