Relatively healthy women with severe depression are at increased risk for heart problems, including sudden cardiac death and fatal heart disease, a new study finds.

But even more startling is that the researchers suggest that some of the antidepressants used to treat these women might play a role in their increased heart risk.

Doctors from Columbia University in New York and the University of California at San Diego analyzed information provided by 63,469 women participating in the ongoing Nurses Health Study. Overall, they found that women with depression were more than twice as likely to experience sudden cardiac death, and 37 percent more likely to die of heart disease, compared to women without depression.

But perhaps more surprising was that an increased risk of heart trouble in these women appeared to have less to do with the symptoms of depression — and more to do with the use of antidepressants.