Heart Health and Depression.

Things are not always as logical as we would like.

Research has shown that depression increases the risk of heart failure in otherwise healthy people. Antidepressants help many people improve their mental health, but does the heart condition also improve?

You might think so, but studies of 13,708 people by Heidi May, an epidemiologist at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, proved that it is not the case.

Even more interesting, or perhaps scary, is that 10% of those studied developed depression after they were diagnosed with heart disease! And they then had double the risk of heart failure.

When you think about it though, it does make perfect logical sense. People who have depression are less likely to look after themselves properly. Eating properly, exercising, all are harder when you are depressed.

And if your doctor does not notice your depression, or realize its significance, the depressed person may not realize that they are adding to the strain on the heart.

For women the risks are even greater, as research from Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC) shows. Women with more severe depression or those who were taking anti-depressants were at higher risk of sudden death through a heart attack.

This was the case even when certain lifestyle factors were taken into account, eg high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

The maxim "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought," has never seemed more true.

The links between depressive symptoms and cardiac events were not always clear because they were mixed up with other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking, said the researchers.

Whang and colleagues studied 63,469 women from the Nurses Health Study who had no evidence of prior heart disease or stroke.

The study found that women with more severe depressive symptoms or those who reported taking anti-depressants were at a higher risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD).

In particular, women with clinical depression were more than twice as likely to experience sudden cardiac death. Surprisingly, this risk was associated more strongly with anti-depressant use than with depressive symptoms, said a CUMC statement.

Research also shows that children with chronic heart conditions, whose mothers are also anxious, will be at more risk than those in less anxious environments.

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