Link Between Depression and Heart Disease Risk

People who suffer from depression could be twice as likely to have a heart attack compared to people who are not depressed, suggests study.

A new study led by Concordia University has found that depressed individuals have a slower recovery time after exercise in contrast to those who do not suffer from mood disorders.

Depression - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.

These findings suggest that a dysfunctional biological stress system is at play among depressed individuals.

"There have been two competing theories as to why depression is linked to cardiovascular disease," says first author Jennifer Gordon.

"Depressed people may have poorer health behaviours, which may in turn lead to heart problems. The other possibility is physiological: a problem with the stress system known as the fight or flight response."

"Our study was the first to examine the role of a dysfunctional fight or flight response in depression in a large population."

A total of 886 participants, who were on an average 60 years old, took part in the study.

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Approximately 5 per cent of participants were diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. All individuals were asked to undergo a stress test after which their heart rate and blood pressure were recorded.

Recovery heart rates and blood pressure levels were compared between depressed and non-depressed individuals.

Animation of heart attack symptoms
Heart attack can cause symptoms such as Chest pain or discomfort, Shortness of breath and pain in neck, back, arm, or shoulder and is due to blockage of blood supply to the heart muscles

"We found that it took longer for the heart rate of depressed individuals to return to normal," said senior author, Simon Bacon, a professor in the Concordia University Department of Exercise Science and a researcher at the Montreal Heart Institute.

"Heart rate recovery from exercise is one way to measure the fight or flight stress response. The delayed ability to establish a normal heart rate in the depressed individuals indicates a dysfunctional stress response.

"We believe that this dysfunction, can contribute to their increased risk for heart disease," Bacon added.

The study has been published in the journal Psychophysiology.

Source-ANI