Depression and hostility raise risk of heart disease

Nowadays there exist a lot of risk factors that can easily excite the development of various forms of cardiovascular disease, commonly known as heart disease. There are 2 groups of such factors, including:

Photo: Depression and hostility raise risk of heart disease

Depression and hostility raise risk of heart disease

Non-modifiable Risk Factors as

- Age

- Gender

- Genetic factors/Family history of cardiovascular disease

- Race (or ethnicity)

- Environment

Modifiable Risk Factors as

- Tobacco smoking

- Insulin resistance & Diabetes mellitus

- Hypercholesterolemia (elevated cholesterol levels) and abnormal lipoprotein particle profile (cholesterol subtypes)

- Obesity

- High blood pressure

- Medication nonadherence, that is, neglecting or refusing to take prescribed drugs

- Sleep deprivation

- Elevated heart rate

- Physical inactivity/Sedentary lifestyle

- Absence of key nutritional elements

- Exposure to high levels of environmental noise

- Stress

- Rocky Relationships

- Depression

- Periodontal disease

- Diet

The researchers are mainly concerned about such factor as depression, in other words, emotional state. They offered people to undergo an experiment in order to plunge more in the essence of heart disease and its triggers.

First of all the scientists studied the psychological factors and proved that depression and hostility predisposed people to cardiovascular problems. About 300 adult participants engaged in another study looking at cardiovascular disease were given questionnaires to determine if they had a hostile personality or were depressed or both. The questionnaires asked subjects to agree or disagree with statements such as, "I think most people lie on purpose."

The second step was the biological one. The scientists took blood samples to determine the levels of some inflammatory proteins which provide information about immune system. High levels meant higher risk.

Six years of study helped the scientist to bind depression and hostility with high levels of the inflammatory proteins in blood.

The next step – to devise effective treatment taking into consideration an interrelated complex of psychological, environmental and physical factors.