Depression and Exhaustion Increase Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

A recent study found that depression and exhaustion are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), comparable to hypercholesterolemia and obesity.

The study included 3428 men, 45 to 74 years old, who participated in 1 of the population-based MONICA/KPRA Augsburg surveys conducted between 1984 and 1995 and had a follow-up time of 10 years. Mortality risks for the 5 classical CVD risk factors—smoking, obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes—and for depression and exhaustion were assessed using adjusted Cox proportional hazard models.
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During the 10-year follow-up time, 557 all-cause mortality cases, and 269 fatal CVD events were recorded.

All-cause absolute mortality risk for depression and exhaustion was 23.1 cases per 1000 person-year, and 11.2 for CVD mortality. The adjusted hazard ratios were 1.52 for all-cause mortality  and 1.52 for CVD, which were higher than the hazard ratios for hypercholesterolemia and obesity, but lower than hypertension, smoking, and diabetes. The improvements in risk prediction for depression and exhaustion were lower than hypertension, smoking, and diabetes, but similar to hypercholesterolemia, and obesity.

Overall, 15% of all-cause and CVD-related mortalities were attributed to depression and exhaustion by the researchers.

“[Depressed mood and exhaustion] is a strong predictor of mortality risk, ranking in a medium position amongst classical somatic risk factors,” the researchers concluded.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Ladwig KH, Baumert J, Marten-Mittag B, et al. Room for depress and exhausted mood as a risk predictor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality beyond the contribution of the classical somatic risk factors in men [published online December 3, 2016]. Atherosclerosis. doi:10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2016.12.003.