Depression Affects Host of Illnesses, Speaker Says ; A UNE Symposium Focuses on How the Condition Can Affect and Be Affected By Other Serious Maladies.

It can wreak havoc on its own, but depression also plays a pivotal role in problems such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease, according to speakers at a symposium Thursday on the mental illness.

Depression has been shown to increase the risk of heart attacks and other heart problems by 40 percent, while studies have found that depressed people are twice as likely to develop diabetes.

Depression can also emerge after someone gets sick, and can keep the person from getting better. People recovering from heart attacks, for example, appear less likely to stick to prescribed changes in lifestyle and behavior if they are depressed.

“There are higher rates of complications when depression goes undetected,” said Daniel Chapman, a psychiatric epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chapman was the keynote speaker at the symposium organized by the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine as a continuing education program for health professionals.

UNE decided to focus on depression this year because it “is prevalent, less well-understood than it needs to be and has a greater impact than many other chronic diseases,” said Leslie Ingraham, director of continuing medical education at the Biddeford university.

Some people attending the symposium wondered aloud how it is possible to know whether depression caused some chronic disease, or the other way around. One speaker said that both may be caused by the same thing.

Frank Willard is an anatomy professor at UNE’s medical school who studies the link between depression and cardiovascular disease. He said that people have an internal protective network involving neurological, hormonal and immune systems.

When that network is disrupted – sometimes it is stress, sometimes it is genetics – people are vulnerable to both depression and heart disease, Willard has found.

Willard said early detection of the diseases is crucial, especially for people who are genetically predisposed.

“They would be more inclined to develop the diseases earlier in life and have consequences that are long-term,” Willard said

Depression is a major problem in Maine, with one person diagnosed every two days, according to state figures.

The disease affects people of all ages – adolescents drop out of school, adults experience marital instability and substance abuse.

Meanwhile, people over 65 face the state’s highest rate of suicide, said Brenda Harvey, a deputy commissioner in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Besides the human losses, depression costs the state dearly. About 15 percent of low-income residents enrolled in MaineCare have been diagnosed with depression and account for 36 percent of payments made by the state’s Medicaid program.

To alleviate depression’s burden, speakers said the disease must be properly identified and treated.

Harvey suggested improving reimbursement levels for health care professionals, and removing the stigma of mental illness in Maine.

Chapman said he hoped for greater vigilance among primary care practitioners.

“I just want them to be aware of depression and to screen for it because that’s where a lot of it is going to turn up,” Chapman said.

The daylong symposium was co-sponsored by Maine Medical Center’s psychiatry department.

Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

jhuang@pressherald.com