Depressed people have higher risk of getting heart disease than non-depressed

Researchers stated that depression may have severe consequences. They compared non-depressed people with those who have a mood disorder. As a result depressed people have a great risk of getting a heart attack.

That research was organized by Concordia University. They found out that depressed people needed more recovery time than non-depressed.

The results showed that a dysfunctional biological stress system is active among depressed people. The researchers declared that it is obligatory to test for cardiovascular disease the patients with depression.

Jennifer Gordon, a PhD candidate at McGill University, declares:

"There are 2 theories as to why depression is lead to cardiovascular disease. The first theory is that people suffering from depression may have poorer health behaviors resulting in the heart problems.

According to the other theory there is a physiological problem with the stress system (flight response or the flight). We were the first who examined the role of dysfunctional fight or flight response in depression in many people."

The study was made by Concordia together with the Montreal Heart Institute, McGill University, the Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and the Université du Québec à Montréal and the University of Calgary. It is necessary to note that 886 people at the age of 60 took part in that study.

Approximately 5% of the participants were suffering from depression. All of them completed a stress test in order to record their blood pressure and heart rate. Then the researchers compared recovery blood pressure levels and heart rates between depressed and non-depressed participants.

Simon Bacon, a professor in the Concordia University Department of Exercise Science and an investigator at the Montreal Heart Institute, announced:

"We discovered that the depressed participants needed more time to return to a normal heart rate. It is the single way to measure the fight or flight stress response. The braked ability to return to a normal heart rate in the depressed people shows a dysfunctional stress response. We suggest that this dysfunction may cause heart disease. As a conclusion, doctors should treat mental disorder and potential symptoms of heart disease in depressed patients in order to reduce risk of severe consequences."