Long-Term Depression May Double the Risk of Heart Stroke

American Heart Association explains that "many forms of mental health issues can affect heart disease. There's the temporary state of depression or a more severe, clinical case. You can also have varying levels of anxiety and stress, just to name a few of the most well-known problems." When exposed to long-tern stress or depression, our body tends to bear the brunt of it. Increased levels of anxiety, stress and depression can affect the balance of various hormones in our body including cortisol and adrenalin which are proportionally related to our heart rate as well as blood pressure.

Our Body under Stress

The following happens when we experience stress:

Tensed muscles

Increased heart/pulse rate

Rapid and heavy breathing

Increased blood pressure

When stress and anxiety translate into long-term depression, it poses severe threat to the well-being and health of our health. According to Paola Gilsanz, Harvard University's TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston, "Our findings suggest that depression may increase stroke risk over the long term," Her team conducted a study wherein it was found that persistent depression may double the risk of stroke in adults over 50 - and stroke risk remains higher even after symptoms of depression go away.(How to Prevent a Stroke in Middle Age)

Researchers used data from 16,178 participants (ages 50 and older) who had been interviewed as part of the Health and Retirement Study about depressive symptoms, history of stroke, and stroke risk factors every two years in 1998-2010. The study documented 1,192 strokes over 12 years. Compared to people without depression at either interview, people with high depressive symptoms at two consecutive interviews were more than twice as likely to have a first stroke and people who had depressive symptoms at the first interview but not the second had a 66 per cent higher stroke risk.(Drinking Alcohol Regularly Increases Stroke Risk in Men)

"Looking at how changes in depressive symptoms over time may be associated with strokes allowed us to see if the risk of stroke increases after elevated depressive symptoms start or if risk goes away when depressive symptoms do," Gilsanz said.

"We were surprised that changes in depressive symptoms seem to take more than two years to protect against or elevate stroke risk," Gilsanz said.

(Low Blood Sugar Increases the Risk of Stroke)

The team did not evaluate whether depressive symptoms diminished because of treatment or for other reasons; but findings suggest that treatment, even if effective for depression, may not have immediate benefits for stroke risk. Researchers also suggest that diminished depression may have a stronger effect on women than men. However, recent onset of depression was not associated with higher stroke risk.

The research was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Inputs from IANS