In our study we used the CIS-R as a ‘gold-standard’ as this generates ICD-10 diagnoses rather than the probability of depression based on symptom scores. When the HADS was used the prevalence of depression was similar to that found by Egede. The effect of response bias cannot be assessed as information on patients not agreeing to participate was not available to us. In the EUROASPIRE study, a prevalence of depression of 18.5% was found in a population of patients recruited in hospitals in the UK at least 6 months after an index cardiac event. However,KIN1408 this study represents a secondary care population and the number recruited into the study from the UK was relatively small so comparisons with the primary care population in our study are not very applicable. Comparisons can thus only be tentative. Our total prevalence of depression and anxiety was in keeping with that reported in the general UK population, but the prevalence rate of depression alone in that study, which also used the CIS-R, was only 2.6%. Given that virtually everyone in the UK is registered with a general practitioner, results of this community survey should be very similar to rates among patients on practice lists. Singleton et al reported the lowest prevalence rate of depression and anxiety disorders was in those aged between 65and 74 years and lowest in men of that age group. The population in our study was predominantly male with a mean age of 71 years,Brusatol suggesting that our prevalence rate was much higher than that which might be expected in the general community. Another comparator would be prevalence rates among patients listed on GP registers for other physical conditions – diabetes, asthma or hypertension for example. These data appear rare. In one study,114 patients from asthma registers of four practices in Salford, UK were assessed. Depression, defined by scores on the HADS, was present in 10% of the sample, similar to our HADS rate of 12.9%. However other studies have failed to find an increase in the prevalence of depression in people with coronary heart disease.