{"id":384826,"date":"2026-04-10T10:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/384826\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:17:14","slug":"depression-poverty-and-pollution-linked-to-higher-heart-failure-in-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/384826\/","title":{"rendered":"Depression, poverty and pollution linked to higher heart failure in women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Doctor<\/a>Image: \u00a9 Sitthiphong | iStock
\n UK Biobank data show that poor mental health, deprivation and air pollution significantly raise the risk of heart failure in women, with up to a quarter of cases potentially preventable<\/p>\n

New analysis of health data from more than 230,000 women in the UK Biobank study<\/a> suggests that depression, socioeconomic hardship, and exposure to polluted environments<\/a> are tied to a significantly elevated risk of heart failure in women. Researchers say these under\u2011recognised factors may contribute nearly as much to risk as traditional causes such as high blood pressure and diabetes, with risk levels comparable to those of traditional causes. They also estimate that up to one in four cases could be preventable if these broader influences were addressed.<\/p>\n

Overlooked factors play a major role in heart failure in women<\/p>\n

Heart failure occurs when the heart becomes too weak or stiff to pump blood effectively throughout the body. High blood pressure, high cholesterol levels or smoking<\/a> are more likely to develop heart failure, all of which are frequently targeted in public health campaigns.<\/p>\n

Peige Song from China\u2019s Zhejiang University and her team found that living in polluted areas, having poor mental wellbeing, facing socioeconomic deprivation, and experiencing chronic inflammatory conditions such as lupus make women more prone to heart failure. These risks, however, are often overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The study] is a call to redefine prevention in women\u2019s cardiovascular health,<\/a> integrating biological, psychosocial and structural determinants into a unified, equitable approach,\u201d Song says.<\/p>\n

Study reveals scale of preventable heart failure in women<\/p>\n

The researchers analysed data from over 230,000 female UK Biobank participants and found that mental wellbeing, environmental exposures, socioeconomic circumstances, and reproductive history together contributed almost as much risk for heart failure as all well-known risks combined. In particular, the study highlights that risk rises with socioeconomic hardship and chronic inflammatory conditions, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, approaching the impact of conventional risk factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne in four heart-failure cases in women could be prevented if all under-recognised risk factors were eliminated, assuming causal relationships,\u201d Song says. While completely eliminating all risks isn\u2019t realistic, she adds, \u201ceven partial reductions \u2013 through better mental health services, social equity policies and environmental regulations \u2013 could yield significant public health benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese calculations show convincingly that under-recognised and female-specific risk factors contribute significantly to heart failure in women, independently of the well-established ones,\u201d says women\u2019s health specialist Catherine Pirkle of the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand that heart health is influenced by more than just blood pressure or cholesterol,\u201d Song concludes. \u201cFactors like mental wellbeing, reproductive milestones and socioeconomic conditions all matter. Awareness and advocacy for comprehensive, gender-sensitive care are key.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: \u00a9 Sitthiphong | iStock UK Biobank data show that poor mental health, deprivation and air pollution significantly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3852,163,142466,85,46,522],"class_list":{"0":"post-384826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cardiovascular-diseases","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-heart-research","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-mental-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384826","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=384826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}