International journal of behavioral medicine
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Depression in cardiac patients has gained importance due to increased mortality. Although sleep disturbances are a core symptom of depression, the prevalence and patterns of sleep disturbances in heart disease have hardly been examined regarding depression. ⋯ Most cardiac patients experience poor sleep quality. Self-reported sleep disturbances in heart disease could serve as predictors of clinical or subclinical comorbid depression outside of a psychiatric setting in cardiology and other fields, and such patients should be referred to consultation-liaison psychiatry or polysomnography where sleep disorders like sleep apnea are suspected.