Mental Distress May Boost Risk for Heart Disease in Older Adults

A study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes suggests depression, anxiety, or other forms of mental distress may significantly elevate the risk of heart disease among older adults, reports HealthDay News . The four-year analysis tracked psychological distress among nearly 222,000 apparently healthy men and women, age 45 and up, with no prior history of heart disease. The researchers determined the risk of heart attack grew 18 percent among women and 30 percent among men suffering a high or very high degree of mental distress. Furthermore, stroke risk climbed 44 percent among highly distressed women and 24 percent among highly distressed men. "The stronger association between psychological distress and heart attack in men could be due to women being more likely than men to seek primary care for mental and physical health problems, thus partly negating the possible physical effects of mental health problems," says the University of Edinburgh's Caroline Jackson. She alternatively suggests the trend could be reflective of "the known hormonal protection against heart disease in women." Jackson also says there was "a strong association between psychological distress and stroke in women, perhaps suggesting different mechanisms exist between psychological distress and different types of cardiovascular disease in women." The study findings have prompted Jackson to urge more research to specify how mental distress seems to boost heart health risk.