Mental health issues linked to higher heart disease risk in younger women

By Sharin Hussain via SWNS

Younger women are at higher risk of heart problems due to mental health, warns a new study.

The American research suggests that anxiety and depression could offer an early warning of cardiovascular risk in this traditionally low-risk group.

Dr. Giovanni Civieri, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said: “We often feel that young women are the ‘safe group’ with regards to cardiovascular disease because the incidence of cardiovascular disease is quite low due to the protective effects of estrogen in this group.

“But this study suggests that if a younger woman has depression or anxiety, we should start screening for cardiovascular risk factors to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.”

Anxiety and depression have been diagnosed more recently, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Researchers analyzed health records of 71,214 people in the Mass General Brigham Biobank.

Over a 10 year follow-up period, they found that younger women with anxiety or depression were nearly twice as likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

While women who did not have these mental health conditions were comparable to men of the same age for heart diseases.

People who had heart disease or who were diagnosed with anxiety or depression after the study began were excluded.

Around 38 percent of participants developed high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or diabetes.

They also found that those with a history of anxiety or depression before the study period were about 55 percent more likely to develop one or more of these risk factors than people without anxiety or depression.

Women under the age of 50 with anxiety or depression were nearly twice as likely to develop cardiovascular risk factors compared with any other group.

Overall, young women showed the lowest rates of cardiovascular risk factors of any group, which was expected based on findings from previous studies and what is known about the protective effects of estrogen in premenopausal women.

But, anxiety and depression were associated with a much higher relative risk among young women than was seen in other groups.

Dr. Civieri said: “Once a young woman has depression or anxiety, her absolute risk is comparable to a young male.

“There is a sort of a catch-up phenomenon where depression and anxiety increase the risk that would otherwise be very low.”

Researchers also examined the metabolic activity of stress-related brain regions in a small group of participants who had undergone brain scans.

The results indicated that younger women with anxiety or depression showed large increases in stress-related neural activity.

Dr. Civieri concludes: “The question is: Why are anxiety and depression associated with heightened gains in risk among younger females? This is something we are continuing to study.”

The findings are due to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Atlanta, Georgia, next month.