Many studies over the past decade have shown a strong relationship between depression and cardiovascular disease. People who are depressed, for instance, recover more slowly from heart attacks and strokes, and are more likely to have high blood pressure. Conversely, treating depression can help improve other associated medical disorders.

Simply improving one's mood should be motivation enough to seek treatment for depression, but the emerging evidence about the benefits of treating depression for the prevention of, or recovery from, other diseases might persuade even more patients to seek treatment for their depression.

And while individuals bear much of the responsibility for seeking help, we also know that those who provide and pay for health care also play important roles. A new study in the Annals of Family Medicine suggests that when clinicians, administrators, and health care funders all collaborate with each other to treat an older person with both depression and high blood pressure, the outcomes for these two maladies will be significantly better than if the team members simply go their own ways.

That is, when medical care is coordinated or "integrated" by a single clinical manager, the quality of care and the patient's quality of life are improved more than if each health professional acted on his or her own. This integrated care should be especially beneficial for patients with multiple medical problems.

During the 4 weeks of the study, the care delivered to a study group of patients with depression and high blood pressure was coordinated by a trained "care manager" during 3 30-minute, in-person sessions and 2 15-minute telephone-monitoring contacts. The patients given such integrated care received individualized education focusing on the importance of treating both disorders, explanations regarding medications and their side effects, psychological support and encouragement, and personalized monitoring of their symptoms.

In both groups — the study group and a control group of patients whose care was not coordinated — blood pressure and depression scores were measured at the beginning of the study and at 2, 4, and 6 weeks into the study by a care manager. Adherence to medications was also monitored during the study period.

I suppose it's no surprise that the patients whose care was coordinated by a clinical manager experienced the greatest benefits. Both their depression and blood pressure scores were much better at the end of the study than were those of the control patients, and they were much more likely to have taken their antidepressant and blood pressure medications consistently.

This new study highlights the importance of identifying and treating depression in order to achieve the optimum benefits in the management of coexisting cardiovascular disorders.

Things you can do to increase the integration of your care:

• make sure that all of your health care professionals know about each other
• have copies of your medical records and test reports sent to your primary health care provider
• if you have more than one disorder, talk with your doctors about how the conditions might be related and how treating one may benefit any others.