Looking at depression’s impact on the
heart
05 October 2001
Scientists in Wales are investigating why feeling blue could damage our blood vessels.
Scientists in Wales are investigating why feeling blue could
damage our blood vessels.
As health officials predict a massive rise in mental health problems, the timing
of the study could not be more apt. Only this week, the World Health
Organization said it expects depressive disorders to be the second most common
cause of global disease by 2020. Heart disease will remain the leading cause of
ill health, it adds.
Evidence shows that depressed people are more likely to develop heart disease,
but scientists are unclear what causes this link. Researchers at the University
of Wales College of Medicine, in Cardiff, however, believe it is related to how
the body deals with long-term stress.
With funding from the British Heart Foundation, the team will explore how this
stress affects blood vessels, including the heart’s coronary arteries.
“When the body is under stress it produces certain chemicals that, over time,
may be harmful to our arteries by causing inflammation,” explains lead
researcher Professor Michael Frenneaux.
“We believe being depressed may lead to prolonged over-activity of the
body’s ‘stress response’ and this could be why depression can increase the
risk of coronary heart disease.”
The study will involve the use of a drug that temporarily blocks the body’s
stress response, both in healthy volunteers and in those with depression.
Researchers anticipate that artery function will improve once stress is reduced.
Studies have already shown that “acute” mental stress – like a short,
sharp shock – can disrupt how the lining of the arteries works. Researchers
will be looking at how chronic, long-term stress or depression affects the
circulatory system.
The Welsh team devised the research concept after earlier work showing that
depression is often sparked by a stressful life event. Depression then occurs
because the stress response continues after its cause has been removed. About 50
per cent of patients with depression had raised levels of chemicals associated
with stress, they explain.
© Health Media Ltd 2001
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