Skip to Content
800-533-8762
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Health Care Professionals
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
UPMC
  • Find a Doctor
  • Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
      Allergy & Immunology Behavioral & Mental Health Cancer Ear, Nose & Throat Endocrinology Gastroenterology Heart & Vascular Imaging Neurosciences Orthopaedics
      Physical Rehabilitation Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Primary Care Senior Services Sports Medicine Telemedicine Transplant Surgery Walk-In Care Weight Management Women’s Health
      See all Services
    • Services by Region
    • Find a UPMC health care facility close to you quickly by browsing by region.
      UPMC in Western Pa. Western Pa. and New York
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Services
  • Locations
    • Locations by Type
    • Locations by Type
      UPMC hospitals
      Hospitals
      Physical Therapy
      Physical Therapy
      Urgent care
      Walk-In Care
      UPMC Outpatient Centers
      Outpatient Centers
      UPMC Imaging Services
      Imaging
      Community Health Centers
      Community Health Centers
      See All Locations
    • Locations by Region
    • Locations by Region
      UPMC in Southwest Pa. Southwest Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Northwest Pa and Ny. Northwest Pa. & Western N.Y.
      UPMC in West Central Pa. West Central Pa.
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Locations
  • Patients & Visitors
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
      Patients and Visitors Resources Pay a Bill Classes & Events Medical Records Health Library Patient Information
      Patient Portals Privacy Information Shared Decision Making Traveling Patients Visitor Information
      Man uses mobile phone
      Pay a Bill
      Nurse reviews medical chart
      Request Medical Records
  • Patient Portals
  • Find Covid-19 updates
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Request medical records
  • Pay a bill
  • Learn about financial assistance
  • Find classes & events
  • Send a patient an eCard
  • Make a donation
  • Volunteer
  • Read HealthBeat blog
  • Explore UPMC Careers
Skip to Content
UPMC
  • Patient Portals
  • For Patients & Visitors
    • Find a Doctor
    • Locations
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Pay a Bill
    • Services
    • More
      • Medical Records
      • Financial Assistance
      • Classes & Events
      • HealthBeat Blog
      • Health Library
  • About UPMC
    • Why UPMC
    • Facts & Stats
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Community Commitment
    • More
      • Financials
      • Support UPMC
      • UPMC Apps
      • UPMC Enterprises
      • UPMC International
  • For Health Care Professionals
    • Physician Information
    • Resources
    • Education & Training
    • Departments
    • Credentialing
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Newsroom
  • UPMC >
  • Media Relations >
  • News Releases >
  • 083021 Rollman Hopeful Heart
Media Relations
News Releases
Central Pa. News
North Central Pa. News
Contact Us
Experts
Community-Focused News
Media Kits
Media RSS
Media Relations
News Releases
Central Pa. News
North Central Pa. News
Contact Us
Experts
Community-Focused News
Media Kits
Media RSS

Chat Keywords List

  • cancel or exit: Stops your conversation
  • start over: Restarts your current scenario
  • help: Shows what this bot can do
  • terms: Shows terms of use and privacy statement
  • feedback: Give us feedback
Continue
Chat with UPMC
RESTART
MENU
CLOSE

Integrated Treatment for Depression and Heart Failure Improves Quality of Life and Mood

For Journalists

Anastasia (Ana) Gorelova
Senior Manager, Science Writing
412-647-9966
gorelovaa@upmc.edu

Ashley Trentrock
Director
412-586-9776
trentrockar@upmc.edu

Want to Make an Appointment or Need Patient Information?
Contact UPMC at

1-800-533-8762.

Go to Find a Doctor to search for a UPMC doctor.

2021 PITT HS horiz

8/30/2021

PITTSBURGH – A telephone-delivered nursing care strategy that combined heart failure care management with depression treatment improved patients’ clinical outcomes, discovered clinicians from the University of Pittsburgh. The findings of the clinical trial, called Hopeful Heart, were published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

 

The Hopeful Heart Trial is the first study to apply a ‘blended’ collaborative care approach to treating heart failure and depression, whereby investigators trained medical nurses to deliver depression and heart failure care under guidance of a study cardiologist, psychiatrist and primary care physician. 

 

Bruce Rollman release“Heart failure is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases in the United States, and it’s growing even more prevalent as the population ages,” said lead author Bruce Rollman, M.D., M.P.H., UPMC endowed chair and professor of medicine at Pitt. “I’m very excited about our results because they show that we can successfully train medical nurses to deliver effective depression care as part of heart failure care management they may already be delivering, and that this pragmatic approach can significantly improve patients’ mood and help them regain a better quality of life.”

 

Cardiologists rarely screen their patients for depression, even though it occurs in up to half of all heart failure patients and has been associated with reduced adherence to recommended heart failure care, higher rates of hospital readmission and increased mortality. One potential explanation is that few studies have examined the benefits of depression treatment on heart failure patients’ recovery.

 

To find out if effective depression treatments can be delivered as part of routine heart failure care, the researchers tested a telephone-delivered ‘blended’ model of collaborative care. Medical nurses who were trained to administer depression care had weekly care-review conference calls with a study psychiatrist and a study cardiologist, and then relayed treatment recommendations to patients and their primary care physicians. Afterward, study nurses monitored patients via regular telephone calls and made recommendations for adjustments in care depending on patients’ responses to treatment.

 

Amy Anderson release“Collaborative ‘blended’ care model provides extra layers of emotional and educational support for patients and their families,” said co-author Amy Anderson, M.S., clinical coordinator for the Hopeful Heart Trial at Pitt. “When we sit in on case review sessions with doctors and nurses, we end up learning a great deal about these patients’ lives; it becomes personal. So, it is always very rewarding to see these patients overcome hurdles and improve over time.”

 

Hopeful Heart recruited 756 participants with heart failure from eight Pittsburgh-area hospitals, including 629 patients who screened positive for depression. At 12-months follow-up, ‘blended’ care patients reported better mental health-related quality of life—including fewer limitations in social activities, improved general well-being, higher energy and less fatigue, and improved mood—compared to patients receiving usual care, and improved mood compared to those who received collaborative care for heart failure alone.

 

The researchers hope that this innovative and practical approach to patient care could be implemented more broadly, especially as both patients and health care workers have become more accustomed to telemedicine than ever before. 

 

“Depression often goes unrecognized and untreated in heart failure patients, and we are encouraged that our integrated approach to addressing depression was not only effective, but that it can be easily scaled up and expanded nationally,” Rollman said. “A ‘blended’ collaborative care that is built on existing systems of care also may enable organized health care systems such as UPMC to deliver effective first-line care for depression and other mental health conditions to patients with complex medical conditions.”

 

Other authors of the study include Scott Rothenberger, Ph.D., Kaleab Abebe, Ph.D., Ravi Ramani, M.D., Matthew Muldoon, M.D., M.P.H., John Jakicic, Ph.D., Bea Herbeck Belnap, Dr.Bio.Hum., and Jordan Karp, M.D., all of Pitt. 

 

This research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (grant # R01 HL114016).
PHOTO INFO: (click images for high-res versions)

 

Top:

CREDIT: Bruce Rollman

CAPTION: Bruce Rollman, M.D., M.P.H., UPMC endowed chair and professor of medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

 

Bottom:

CREDIT: Amy Anderson

CAPTION: Amy Anderson, M.S., clinical coordinator for the Hopeful Heart Trial at the University of Pittsburgh.

UPMC
200 Lothrop Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213

412-647-8762 800-533-8762

Patients And Visitors
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Pay a Bill
  • Patient & Visitor Resources
  • Disabilities Resource Center
  • Services
  • Medical Records
  • No Surprises Act
  • Price Transparency
  • Financial Assistance
  • Classes & Events
  • Health Library
Health Care Professionals
  • Physician Information
  • Resources
  • Education & Training
  • Departments
  • Credentialing
Newsroom
  • Newsroom Home
  • Inside Life Changing Medicine Blog
  • News Releases
About
  • Why UPMC
  • Facts & Stats
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Community Commitment
  • Financials
  • Supporting UPMC
  • HealthBeat Blog
  • UPMC Apps
  • UPMC Enterprises
  • UPMC Health Plan
  • UPMC International
  • Nondiscrimination Policy
Life changing is...
Follow UPMC
  • Contact Us
  • Website/Email Terms of Use
  • Medical Advice Disclaimer
  • Privacy Information
  • Active Privacy Alerts
  • Sitemap
© 2025 UPMC I Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit healthwise.org
Find Care
Providers
Video Visit
Portal Login