Depression and anxiety can double heart disease risk

Matters of the mind can affect matters of the heart. A new study from Université de Montréal and McGill University researchers has found that major anxiety and/or depression, can double a coronary artery disease patient's chances of repeated heart ailments. This is one of the first studies to focus on patients with stable coronary artery disease – not those who were hospitalized for events such as a heart attack.

"We found that both major depression and generalized anxiety disorder were more common in cardiac patients than in the general community," said principal investigator Nancy Frasure-Smith, a professor at McGill's Department of Psychiatry and a researcher at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) and Montreal Heart Institute. "On average, cardiac patients without these disorders had about a 13 percent chance of a repeated cardiac event over two years, compared to 26 percent of those with either major depression or anxiety."

Dr. Frasure-Smith coauthored the study from the January edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry with Dr. François Lespérance, a Université de Montréal psychiatry professor and head of the CHUM's Department of Psychiatry. "This is the first study to demonstrate that anxiety and depression can have a strong impact on people with stable coronary artery disease," said Lespérance.

The research team interviewed 804 people, patients with stable coronary artery disease who were still monitored by a physician, yet had been discharged from hospital two months prior.

Frasure-Smith and Lespérance found 27 percent of interview subjects were affected by depression and 41 percent showed signs of anxiety. Major depressive disorder was diagnosed in roughly 7 percent of patients while about 5 percent had generalized anxiety disorder.

"Now that we know that anxiety and major depression are both markers of increased cardiac risk, it is imperative that these patients receive the best treatment for both their cardiac and psychiatric conditions," concurred Frasure-Smith and Lespérance, "since both disorders may respond to antidepressants."


(Editor compiled and published Depression and anxiety can double heart disease risk at HealthNewsTrack on January 22, 2008 sourced from Archives of General Psychiatry - http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/1/62)

Depression - recent articles and current news stories:

- Depression - now blood test can diagnose depression in teens
- Depression linked to eating fast food
- Migraine linked to increased risk of depression in women
- Depressed adolescents more likely to be bullied
- Working overtime work may lead to depression

Most related articles:

- Depression and anxiety can double heart disease risk
- 15% preschoolers have high levels of depression and anxiety - 6.9
- Fear of anxiety linked to depression - 6.7
- Depression may double risk of dementia & Alzheimer's disease - 6
- Inherited brain activity predicts childhood anxiety risk - 5.9

More related articles:

- Depression, Anxiety, Heart disease, Coronary artery disease, Heart attack, Cardiac
- Depression linked to heart disease in women - 12
- Safely reduce BP in patients with diabetes and heart disease - 10.6
- Heart patients should be screened, treated for depression - 10.5
- Effient to reduce heart attack risk in angioplasty patients - 10.1

Depression related articles:

- Pregnancy hormone predicts postpartum depression - 3.5
- Students with depression likely to drop out of college - 3.5
- Inadequate sleep may lead to depression - 3.4
- Migraine linked to increased risk of depression in women - 3.3
- Low testosterone levels linked to depression in older men - 3.3

Depression article/news source:

Read more health articles from Archives of General Psychiatry and health articles from USA.

Depression - search related terms:

Anxiety, Cardiac, Coronary artery disease, Depression, Heart attack, Heart disease,
Depression books,

List health news, Health organizations, Health news world, Glossary, Best health articles, Featured     Go to top

The information provided on Health Newstrack is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician. We comply with the HONcode principles for trustworthy health information, and Health News Track is hon code accredited, verify here.
About us, Site map Privacy policy, Disclaimer
© 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 HealthNewsTrack.com
9.11