The connection between mind and body has been a subject that has puzzled people for many years. Is it possible for a person to really die of sadness? Or is a healthy head really found in a healthy body?
Scientists have been studying the relationships between mental and physical health for some time. It is suspected that one of these relationships may be between depression, which we can call the disease of our age, and heart disease. So, is there really a link between depression and heart disease? A new study contributes to answering this question.
Women with higher heart disease also have a higher risk of developing depression
According to studies, depression is more common in people with general heart disease than in the general population. is showing. What’s more, among physically healthy people who have been followed for many years, those with high depressive symptoms are reported to be more likely to develop heart disease than those without depression.
In addition, depression in people with acute heart disease is also known to be associated with an increased risk of heart attack and death from any other cause, not just heart disease. However, it is known that very few studies deal with this situation in terms of the opposite, that is, heart diseases may actually be the cause of depression. This is exactly how the newly published research looks at the link between heart disease and depression.
Sandra Martín-Peláez of the University of Granada, Spain, and colleagues, to investigate the link between cardiovascular risk factors and depression in people between the ages of 55 and 75 who suffer from metabolic syndrome, which increases a person’s risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. focused. The participants of this study were also involved in a larger study that analyzed the effects of the Mediterranean diet on people who are overweight or obese and have metabolic syndrome.
Participants in other studies consisted of one group that followed a calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet and a physical activity program, and another group that followed an unrestricted Mediterranean diet without a physical activity program. As a result, more than 6,500 participants were included in the baseline analysis of the original study, and more than 4,500 were followed two years later.
To identify the main risk factors for heart disease, the researchers used the well-established Framingham risk score developed by tracking healthy people over time and stratified participants as low, moderate, or high risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease within ten years.
By asking participants about depressive symptoms using questionnaires at baseline and then two years later, researchers found no significant association between cardiovascular risk and depression at baseline or follow-up. So overall, participants with a higher risk of heart disease were not more likely than normal to have or develop depression.
When analyzing the data by sex, they found that women with a higher cardiovascular risk at baseline were more likely to show symptoms of depression, but the researchers found nothing to suggest this was the case in either men or women at follow-up.
On average, it was found that depression scores of all participants decreased in two years. Accordingly, depression scores were lower for those with low cardiovascular risk and those in the intervention group.
It is frankly difficult at the moment to clearly understand what the findings from this study mean. The researchers analyzed the data in several different ways; however, generally controversial results were obtained. Accordingly, the only definitive conclusion was that women with heart disease had higher levels of depression than men with heart disease, which is expected given that women in the general population have a higher rate of depression than men.
Why are depression and heart disease thought to be linked?
Although this study could not provide conclusive evidence that heart disease risk is associated with a higher risk of developing depression, there is already strong evidence that heart disease and depression are linked. contributes to a body of evidence. It seems possible that this relationship can be explained by a number of behavioral and biological factors. Some biological factors common to both depression and heart disease risk are as follows:
- increased inflammation
- endothelial dysfunction
- changed autonomic nervous system activity
- blood platelet dysfunction
In addition to these, healthy lifestyle factors such as regular physical activity, not smoking and eating a healthy diet are protective against both heart disease and depression; Conversely, unhealthy lifestyle factors are also known to be associated with an increased risk of heart disease and depression.
On the other hand, it is stated that this study is promising for further investigation of diet and lifestyle for potential treatment of depression in people with heart disease and those at risk of heart disease.
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