Depression raises the risk of heart failure, a large-scale study suggests.
Data from nearly 63,000 Norwegians shows that moderate to severe depression increases the risk of heart failure by 40 percent.
"That means that the more depressed you feel, the more you are at risk," Lise Tuset Gustad, first author of the study and an intensive care nurse at Levanger Hospital in Norway, said in a statement.
Depression was assessed and ranked for severity using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Factors like body mass index (BMI), physical activity, smoking habits and blood pressure were accounted for.
"Depressed people have less healthy lifestyles, so our analysis adjusted for factors such as obesity and smoking that could cause both depression and heart failure," Gustad added. "This means we can be confident that these factors did not cause the association."
During the study, which was conducted over an 11-year period, nearly 1,500 people developed heart failure. Compared to participants with no symptoms of depression, people with mild symptoms were 5 percent more likely to suffer from heart failure and those with moderate to severe symptoms had a 40 percent increased risk.
One theory behind the association between the two is that depression releases stress hormones that in turn lead to inflammation, a known heart failure risk.
Gustad points out that depression can severely affect other aspects of a person's life that puts them at risk for heart disease.
"Depression is disabling. It blocks people's ability to take their medications as prescribed, stop smoking, improve their diet or exercise more," Gustad concluded.
"The early symptoms of depression include a loss of interest and loss of pleasure in things that have normally been interesting or given pleasure," she added. "It's a good idea to see your doctor in these early stages for some advice on how to reduce your depression levels."
