findings<\/a>, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, suggest that stress reduction and related therapeutic targets hold potential for cardiovascular disease prevention.<\/p>\nThe researchers analyzed data from 85,551 participants in the Mass General Brigham Biobank. Of these, 14,934 presented with both depression and anxiety, 15,819 had either depression or anxiety, and 54,798 had neither condition. Participants were followed for a median of 3.4 years, during which 3,078 experienced major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack, heart failure, or stroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn line with previous reports, we found that both depression and anxiety were linked to a higher risk of heart attack or stroke,\u201d said senior author Ahmed Tawakol, director of Nuclear Cardiology at the Mass General Brigham Heart and Vascular Institute and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. \u201cNotably people who were diagnosed with both depression and anxiety faced roughly a 32 percent higher risk compared with those diagnosed with only one condition. Importantly, these associations remained strong even after accounting for differences in lifestyle behaviors, socioeconomic factors, and traditional risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who were diagnosed with both depression and anxiety faced roughly a 32 percent higher risk compared with those diagnosed with only one condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahmed Tawakol<\/p>\n
To investigate whether depression and anxiety might be linked to heart health via systemic stress responses, the researchers also analyzed advanced brain imaging data and biomarkers of nervous system activity and inflammation for a subset of the participants. They found that people diagnosed with depression or anxiety showed increased activity in the amygdala (a brain region associated with stress), reduced heart rate variability (a sign of an overactive nervous system), and higher blood levels of CRP (a protein linked to inflammation).<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, these changes seem to form a biological chain linking emotional stress to cardiovascular risk,\u201d said study first author Shady Abohashem, who is head of Cardiac PET\/CT Imaging Trials, an investigator at the Cardiovascular Imaging Center of MGH, and an instructor in radiology at HMS. \u201cWhen the brain\u2019s stress circuits are overactive, they can chronically trigger the body\u2019s \u2018fight or flight\u2019 system, leading to increased heart rate, blood pressure, and chronic inflammation. Over time, these changes can damage blood vessels and accelerate heart disease. This reinforces that protecting heart health isn\u2019t just about diet or exercise, it\u2019s also about emotional health.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor clinicians, it\u2019s a reminder to view mental health as an integral part of cardiovascular risk assessment. For patients, it\u2019s encouragement that addressing chronic stress, anxiety, or depression is not just a mental health priority, it\u2019s also a heart health priority,\u201d added Abohashem.<\/p>\n
Because the study was based on observational data, more research is needed to determine whether depression and anxiety are causing cardiovascular disease or whether they are simply associated. The researchers are now studying whether interventions such as stress-reduction therapies, anti-inflammatory medications, or lifestyle changes can help normalize these brain and immune markers and, in turn, lower heart risk.<\/p>\n
The research described in this article was supported in part by the American Heart Association and National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patients with depression are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, and a new study suggests that stress may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[164,163,1541,1283,85,46,522,109783,1360],"class_list":{"0":"post-191662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-heart-health","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-psychology-concentrator","16":"tag-research"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}