Depression increases the risk of heart disease
A history of depression increases the risk of heart disease more than any common congenital risk or the patient’s environment, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings were presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society that takes place in Chicago.
The researchers analyzed data collected from more than 1,200 male twins who served in the Vietnam War. These men were subjected to various medical checkups in 1992, which included depression, which were repeated in 2005.
In the study, the researchers took into account the prevalence of heart disease in patients with depression who participated in this study. It turned out that men with depression in 1992 were twice as likely to suffer heart disease in later years, compared with those who had no history of depression.
“Based on our findings, we can say that after adjusting for other risk factors, depression remains a significant predictor of heart disease,” said Jeffrey F. Scherrer, senior study author and professor at the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.
“In this study, we demonstrated that exposure to depression contributes to heart disease only in the twins with genetic risk who actually develop clinical depression. In the twins with common risk of depression and heart disease, but never developed depression, there was no increased risk of heart disease. This solid supports that depression itself contributes independently to the risk of heart disease, “he said in remarks broadcast by the Washington University website.
The researchers were able to divide the participants into risk groups: twins with a high genetic and environmental risk for depression, and had only moderate or low risk. In groups compared the incidence of heart disease, setting other variables in this disease as snuff, obesity, hypertension or diabetes.