New US research has found that both short- and long-term symptoms of depression may be linked to the development of cardiovascular disease, increasing the risk of the condition for up to 15 years.
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| New research has found an association between long-term depression and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. |
AFP Relaxnews
Carried out by researchers at the University of Maine, the study
followed 274 older adults over a period of 15 years to explore the
possible effect of long-term chronic depression on the risk of
development of the condition.
Although previous research has already found that depression is a
risk factor for cardiovascular disease, many of these studies have
focused on baseline depressive symptoms and not the chronic nature of
the condition.
[post_ads]During the study, the researchers measured the participants’
depressive and anxiety symptoms, mean arterial pressure, and
cardiovascular disease status.
They found that both baseline and chronic depressive symptoms predict
the occurrence of cardiovascular events, including chest pain, heart
attack, heart disease, heart failure, mini-stroke and acute stroke, with
short-term or baseline depressive symptoms increase the risk of
cardiovascular events for up to 15 years and chronic depressive symptoms
for up to 10 years.
The finding that baseline depressive symptoms increase the risk for
cardiovascular events up to 15 years later also goes against a recent
meta-analysis which found no relationship between depressive symptoms
and future cardiovascular events over a long-term follow-up period of 15
years or longer.
The results, which can be found published in the Journal of Health Psychology, highlight
the importance of assessing and treating depression in older adults to
reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading
cause of death worldwide.
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Details of a separate study also released this week suggests that
depression and anti-depressants may also be linked to an increased risk
of venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Led by the University of Bristol and published in the journal Annals of Medicine, the
review looked at eight observational studies with data on 960,113
participants. The researchers found that depression and each of the
various classes of antidepressant medications is associated with an
increased risk of VTE, a life-threatening condition in which blood clots
form in the veins of the legs or lungs.
The team noted that as an observational study they cannot prove cause
and effect, but added that the results do show that a relationship
exists between depression, antidepressant use, and VTE after previous
studies reported mixed results.
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