Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine conducted a practice-based, randomized, controlled trial in 20 primary care practices in New York and Pennsylvania. More than 1,200 patients between 60 and 75 years of age were screened for depression: 396 were classified as having major depression, 203 had minor depression and 627 had no depression.

The practices were randomly assigned to usual care practices, or a depression care management intervention, which involved a depression care manager who worked with the primary care provider to recommend treatment for depression according to standard guidelines.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found patients with depression in intervention practices were less likely to have died than those in usual care practices. Risk of death was reduced in patients with major depression, but not in patients with minor depression or among patients without depression.

The benefit seemed to be almost entirely attributable to a reduction in deaths due to cancer, and further research is warranted, according to researchers.