New York (SmartAboutHealth) - Researchers have found that depression increases the overall risk of heart failure by 50% in patients.

The new study focused on 14,000 patients and was led by Heidi May of the Intermountain Medical Center in Utah.

At the start of the study, there were no patients who had heart failure, with no diagnosis of depression either.

The commonality between all of them was the fact that they all had clogged arteries.

Over time, researchers watched the patients to see if and when depression developed, to check if it led to heart failure at all.

Their discovery was startling, as those who suffered from depression saw their heart failure risk increase by 50%.

Researchers also found that the risk remained that high even after antidepressants were prescribed.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.