MONDAY, Nov. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A person’s mental state can have a tremendous impact on heart health, two new studies report.
Depression and anxiety accelerate the development of heart risk factors like elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, one study found.
And the second study found that chronic stress was associated with the development of heart disease and clogged arteries.
“There are clear associations between psychological health and cardiovascular disease risk. These studies add to a growing body of data we have on how negative psychological health can increase the risk of heart and brain disease,” said Dr. Glenn Levine in an American Heart Association (AHA) news release. Levine chaired the writing of the association's 2021 scientific statement on psychological health, well-being, and the mind-heart-body connection.
Researchers are scheduled to present both studies at the association's annual meeting Nov. 11-13, in Philadelphia and online. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
For the first study on mood and heart health, researchers analyzed data on more than 71,000 adults gathered from 2010 to 2020.
They found that people diagnosed with anxiety or depression developed a new heart health risk factor about six months earlier on average than people without a mood disorder.
Depression and anxiety increased the risk of a heart attack, stroke or other major event by about 35%.
Further, the accelerated development of heart risk factors explained about 40% of the link between mood disorders and major heart events.
The researchers also found that those who were genetically predisposed to stress tended to develop their first heart health risk factor about a year and a half earlier on average than those without higher genetic risk.
“Developing cardiovascular risk factors more than six months earlier over an average of five years is a lot,” lead author Dr. Giovanni Civieri, a research fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in the release. “The fact that genetic analysis supported the clinical findings was intriguing and provided further confidence in our results.”
The second study looked at nearly 2,700 adults without existing heart disease taking part in a Dallas heart study, who were followed an average of 12 years.
Participants filled out a detailed questionnaire about everyday sources of stress, and researchers integrated their responses into a “cumulative stress score” for each person.
The stress score was significantly associated with the development of heart disease, even after researchers accounted for other risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and cholesterol.
Stress was associated with a 22% increased risk of plaque buildup in the arteries and a 20% overall increased risk for heart disease.
Researchers said stress appears to directly affect physical well-being, and also causes people to make poor lifestyle choices that increase heart health risk.
Previous research has shown that the hormones released by chronic stress, like cortisol, can affect blood sugar levels, inflammation, and other systemic risks to the heart, researchers noted.
“There is indeed a mind-heart connection. Taking care of your mind can impact your physical health as well,” said stress study researcher Dr. Ijeoma Eleazu. She's cardiology fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
“It would be great to see more patients talking with their physicians about their stress levels and more physicians screening for a high burden of stress in their patients,” Eleazu said in the release. “In that way, we can work together to combat poor outcomes.”
More information
The American Heart Association has more about stress and heart health.
SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, Nov. 6, 2023
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