If you’re battling depression while coping with stress in your daily life, the combination could be deadly to your heart health, a new study is warning.
American researchers say that risk of a heart attack is heightened during this “psychosocial perfect storm.”
“The increase in risk accompanying high stress and high depressive symptoms was robust and consistent across demographics, medical history, medication use and health risk behaviours,” Dr. Carmela Alcantara, lead researcher of the study, said in a statement.
Alcantara is a scientist at Columbia University’s Medical Center for Behaviorial Cardiovascular Health.
READ MORE: Stress levels linked to heart attack recovery outcomes in women
Her team examined the effects of high stress levels and depression in nearly 5,000 heart patients. Both symptoms have been tied to poor heart health but they suggest that the duo put together is more lethal.
The patients were 45 years and older with coronary heart disease. During at-home examinations and through questionnaires filled out between 2003 and 2007, the group reported on how often they cried, or felt depressed or lonely. They also measured stress by asking how often study participants felt like they couldn’t control important things in their lives, felt overwhelmed or felt confidence in their ability to handle personal problems.
READ MORE: Male heart attack patients receive faster care than women
Six per cent of the group reported both stress and high depression, while almost 12 per cent had high stress. Fourteen 14 per cent of subjects were living with depression.
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At the six-year follow up, 1,337 people died or had experienced a heart attack. The short-term risk of having a heart attack increased by 48 per cent for those who reported symptoms of stress and depression compared to their peers who didn’t have to deal with either.
The doctors say the risk was most significant only during the first 2.5 years from the initial home visit. And it wasn’t high if patients were dealing solely with depression or solely with stress – they had to be encountering both.
READ MORE: Male heart attack patients receive faster care than women
Stress and mental health are both risk factors for heart disease. Earlier this year, Yale University researchers suggested that stress played a key role in determining recovery after a heart attack.
Alcantara’s full findings were published Wednesday in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
Follow @Carmen_Chai
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