Depression has been consistently associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), it is also known to play an essential role in the initiation and exacerbation of CVD. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of depression among patients attending the cardiology clinic of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi. The study was conducted among one hundred and six (106) consenting patients attending the cardiology unit of BSUTH from June to August 2017. The result shows that, 52(49.1%) were males while the remaining 54(50.9%) were females. The mean age of the respondents was 53.48±14.77years, twenty-eighty respondents representing 26.4% were married at the time of the study, 15(14.2%) were single while the remaining 63(59.4%) were previously married. Thirty-seven (34.9%) of the study subjects had no formal education and eighty-two (77.4%) of the presentation at the clinic were having a diagnosis of hypertension, 8(7.5%) were being treated for Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD), 9(8.5%) were diagnosed with cardiomyopathies, 3(2.8%) were diagnosed heart failure and 4 (3.8%) had other cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of depression was found to be 45.3% in this study, there was a statistically significant relationship between the diagnoses of depression and gender status (p=0.001), marital status (p=0.01), partner relationship (p=0.001), substance abuse (p=0.001). No statistically significant relationship was found between depression and occupational status (p=0.167), level of educational attainment (p=0.401), respondents’ weight (p=0.06), and the nature of cardiovascular diagnoses (p=0.951). We recommended early detection and treatment of depression among patients with cardiovascular diseases.

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