Paper Example: Depression and Risk of Heart Disease Mortality

Media reports and news articles continue to play a central role in disseminating knowledge from research findings and enhancing public awareness on specific social, political, or economic contracts in the simplest language possible. Despite their relevance, they are susceptible to various errors, mistakes, or omissions, which, at some point, might distort or miscommunicate the original findings or messages of research. One of the study findings reported in a news article, Science Daily, was on depression on young people as a factor that can potentially increase the risk of death due to heart disease. Although the news article was successful in reporting various aspects of the research, especially findings, it exhibited some accuracy issues.

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Summary of the Research Article

Shah et al. (2011) examined the relationship between depression and history of suicide attempts among young US adults living with heart disease. Thus, the research question was on whether unipolar and bipolar depression and a history of suicide attempts are associated with heart disease-related mortality among young adults and whether there are variations across gender with respect to these associations. Using a longitudinal research design, the researchers collected data from 7641 US adults aged between 17 and 39 years (Shah et al., 2011). The longitudinal data were retrieved from the Third National Health, and Nutrition Examination Survey carried out between 1988 and 1994.

The independent variables were depression and attempted suicide, while the dependent variables were CVD (cardiovascular disease) and IHD (ischemic heart disease) mortality. The study found that depression and attempted suicide significantly correlated with CVD mortality (Shah et al., 2011). On the same note, the independent variables significantly associated with IHD mortality. By gender, IHD mortality was higher among women. The study found that Men are more prone to non-CVD mortality, are generally more depressed, and are at higher risks of suicide attempts (Shah et al., 2011). The research concluded that psychological factors reflective have a profound role in increasing premature heart-related deaths among young American adults aged below 40. The research also identified various limitations related to the study, especially the risk of misclassification of participant responses.

Accuracy of the News Article

The news article was successful in reporting a significant number of aspects of the research article. It provided a succinct summary of the research topic, participants, data collection processes, results, and conclusion (Emory University, 2011). A more noticeable characteristic of the news article is the simplicity and clarity of the language and grammar used, making the research understandable to laypersons. However, it omitted variables, approaches used to analyze data, and limitations, limiting its accuracy. Nonetheless, its accuracy remains high since it mentions major research processes and findings, references the source of the research article, and includes findings from other researches to back up the results.

Conclusion

Research articles are fundamental sources of knowledge that inform new practices of ad perceptions about various phenomena. However, unless translated into simple-to-understand form, comprehending such articles might be daunting to non-experts. News articles are vital in bridging this gap, specifically when they accurately present the information.

References

Emory University. (2011, November 13). Depression in young people increases risk of heart disease mortality. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111111152242.htm

Shah, A. J., Veledar, E., Hong, Y., Bremner, D., & Vaccarino, V. (2011). Depression and history of attempted suicide as risk factors for heart disease mortality in young individuals. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(11), 1135. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.125