Depression and anxiety can double chances of coronary artery disease
Results of study published in January edition of Archives of General Psychiatry
Matters of the mind can affect matters of the heart. A new study by 捆绑SM社区 and Universit茅 de Montr茅al researchers has found that major anxiety and/or depression, can double a coronary artery disease patient鈥檚 chances of repeated heart ailments. This is one of the first studies to focus on patients with stable coronary artery disease 鈥� not those who were hospitalized for events such as a heart attack.
鈥淲e found that both major depression and generalized anxiety disorder were more common in cardiac patients than in the general community,鈥� said principal investigator Nancy Frasure-Smith, a professor at 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 Department of Psychiatry and a researcher at the Centre hospitalier de l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al (CHUM) and Montreal Heart Institute. 鈥淥n average, cardiac patients without these disorders had about a 13 percent chance of a repeated cardiac event over two years, compared to 26 percent of those with either major depression or anxiety.鈥�
Dr. Frasure-Smith coauthored the study from the January edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry with Dr. Fran莽ois Lesp茅rance, a Universit茅 de Montr茅al psychiatry professor and head of the CHUM鈥檚 Department of Psychiatry. 鈥淭his is the first study to demonstrate that anxiety and depression can have a strong impact on people with stable coronary artery disease,鈥� said Lesp茅rance.
The research team interviewed 804 people, patients with stable coronary artery disease who were still monitored by a physician, yet had been discharged from hospital two months prior. Frasure-Smith and Lesp茅rance found 27 percent of interview subjects were affected by depression and 41 percent showed signs of anxiety. Major depressive disorder was diagnosed in roughly 7 percent of patients while about 5 percent had generalized anxiety disorder.
鈥淣ow that we know that anxiety and major depression are both markers of increased cardiac risk, it is imperative that these patients receive the best treatment for both their cardiac and psychiatric conditions,鈥� concurred Frasure-Smith and Lesp茅rance, 鈥渟ince both disorders may respond to antidepressants.鈥�
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A full copy of the study can be consulted at the .