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How depression is linked with heart disease?
How does depression cause heart disease? Could you please tell some of the site? Where can I get some pictures of it too?
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#2 written by old_c_montgomery_burns 1 year ago
Studies have shown that mental stress (including depression) has a negative effect on a person’s heart health. In particular:
•Unmanaged stress can lead to high blood pressure, arterial damage, irregular heart rhythms, and a weakened immune system.
•For people with heart disease, depression increases the risk for an adverse cardiac event such as a heart attack or blood clots. For people who do not have heart disease, depression increases the risk of heart attack and coronary disease.
•One in six patients who have had a heart attack suffer from clinical depression. In one study, the continued presence of depression after recovery increased the risk of death (mortality rate) to 17% within six months after a heart attack (versus 3% mortality in heart attack patients who didn’t suffer from depression).
•During recovery from cardiac surgery, depression can intensify pain, cause worsened fatigue and sluggishness, or cause a person to withdraw into social isolation. Patients who have had coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and have untreated depression after surgery also have an increased morbidity and mortality rate.
•Patients with heart failure and depression have an increased risk of being readmitted to the hospital within three months to one year after their hospitalization.
•Negative lifestyle habits associated with depression – such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, poor diet, and lack of social support – interfere with the treatment for heart disease.A few links below. This info was from The Cleveland Clinic.
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Physical signs of depression such as fatigue and loss of appetite may be early indicators of cardiovascular disease. Depression contributes to thickening of arteries that in turn may lead to heart disease. The physical symptoms of depression predicted the progression of atherosclerosis. And it appears that the symptoms of depression exist before the signs of atherosclerosis.
Earlier studies have suggested links between negative emotions like anxiety and anger and an increased risk of heart disease. However a new study has broken the myth to prove that only depression and its physical symptoms are actually responsible for early signs of heart disease. In other studies, anxiety, depression, anger and hostility have all separately been linked to future risk of heart disease.
Researchers however are not sure how exactly depression causes this effect. Depression has been associated with some physiological changes, including in the immune system. These physiological changes probably explain this association.
Doctors should take a better look at depression and other psychological factors that can affect patient health. For too long, the medical system has amputated the head from the rest of the body. It is important for them to consider the psychological aspects of their patients’ lives, because that is an important factor in the care of their patients’ lives and families.
Take care as always!
March 31, 2009