Anxiety doubles the risk of dying from any cause among patients with heart disease, finds recent study.
Researchers said that patients with both anxiety and depression have tripled the risk of dying.
Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety disorder involves excessive worry about actual circumstances, events or conflicts. Anyone can develop this disorder. Genes may play a role.
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"Many studies have linked depression to an increased risk of death in heart disease patients. However, anxiety hasn't received as much attention," Lana Watkins, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C said.
Studies show that depression is about three times more common in heart attack patients.
The American Heart Association recommends that heart patients be screened for depression and treated if necessary.
![Quiz on Heart Attack]( "Quiz on Heart Attack")
The risk factors that work behind the scene before a heart attack are familiar to many. But do you realize the extent to which your lifestyle choices are putting your life at risk? Can you identify a heart attack when it occurs? Take our quiz and find out.
Depressed heart disease patients often also have anxiety, suggesting it may underlie the risk previously attributed solely to depression, Watkins said.
"It's now time for anxiety to be considered as important as depression, and for it to be examined carefully," she said.
Anxiety and depression each influence risk of death in unique ways.
Anxiety, for example, increases activity of the sympathetic (adrenaline-producing) nervous system that controls blood pressure.
"People who worry a lot are more likely to have difficulty sleeping and to develop high blood pressure," Watkins said.
The link between depression and mortality is more related to behavioral risk factors, she said.
Future studies should test strategies to manage anxiety alone and with depression in heart disease patients, Watkins said.
The research is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Source: ANI
The American Heart Association recommends that heart patients be screened for depression and treated if necessary.
Quiz on Heart Attack
The risk factors that work behind the scene before a heart attack are familiar to many. But do you realize the extent to which your lifestyle choices are putting your life at risk? Can you identify a heart attack when it occurs? Take our quiz and find out.
Advertisement
Depressed heart disease patients often also have anxiety, suggesting it may underlie the risk previously attributed solely to depression, Watkins said.
"It's now time for anxiety to be considered as important as depression, and for it to be examined carefully," she said.
Anxiety and depression each influence risk of death in unique ways.
Anxiety, for example, increases activity of the sympathetic (adrenaline-producing) nervous system that controls blood pressure.
"People who worry a lot are more likely to have difficulty sleeping and to develop high blood pressure," Watkins said.
The link between depression and mortality is more related to behavioral risk factors, she said.
Future studies should test strategies to manage anxiety alone and with depression in heart disease patients, Watkins said.
The research is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Source: ANI
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