Even Mild Depression, Anxiety Hurts the Heart: Study

HealthDay – 2 mins 35 secs ago TUESDAY, July 31 (HealthDay News) -- Even mild depression or anxiety may raise your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and other causes, according to British researchers.

And the greater the level of psychological distress, the higher the odds of death from heart disease, the researchers say.

"The fact that an increased risk of mortality was evident, even at low levels of psychological distress, should prompt research into whether treatment of these very common, minor symptoms can reduce this increased risk of death," said lead researcher Tom Russ, a clinical research fellow at the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Center of the University of Edinburgh.

For the study, published online July 31 in BMJ, Russ and colleagues analyzed 10 studies of men and women enrolled in the Health Survey for England from 1994 to 2004. Data on more than 68,000 adults aged 35 and older was included overall.

Each study looked for connections between chronic psychological distress and the risk of dying from heart disease and other causes, including cancer.

Pooling data in this way is called a meta-analysis. In such a study, researchers look for common patterns across several studies.

Over eight years' follow-up, the researchers found even very mild depression or anxiety -- subclinical levels -- raised the risk of all-cause death, including cardiovascular disease, by 20 percent. Looking specifically at death from heart disease, mild psychological distress raised this risk 29 percent, the study found.

For the highest level of depression or anxiety, the risk of all-cause death rose 94 percent, the researchers found.

Risk of death from cancer was increased 9 percent in cases of very severe depression or anxiety, the investigators found. Lower levels of psychological distress were not associated with increased risk of cancer death.

An individual's actual risk of death remains small, however, and people shouldn't assume they are doomed to an early death if they suffer from a psychological disorder.

Dr. Glyn Lewis, a professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the University of Bristol in England and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said evidence linking stress to heart disease continues to mount.

"If we can reduce the psychological impact, then this should reduce the biological response," he said. But how to accomplish that remains a puzzle.

A type of psychological treatment called cognitive behavioral therapy is designed to help people change the way they respond to potentially stressful events, Lewis said. Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches patients to change their thinking about situations and to react less emotionally.

"This might help people with

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Calcium Supplements May Be Bad for Your Heart: Study

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Both Too Little and Too Much Sleep Bad for the Heart: Study

HealthDay – 1 hr 17 mins ago SUNDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to what's best for their hearts, people walk a fine line between getting too much and too little sleep, a new study suggests.

Adults who get fewer than six hours or more than eight hours of sleep a night are at greater risk for a variety of heart conditions, according to research led by Dr. Rohit Arora, chairman of cardiology at the Chicago Medical School.

Sleeping too little puts people at significantly higher risk of stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure, the researchers found. On the other hand, people who sleep too much have a higher prevalence of chest pain (angina) and coronary artery disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that supply the heart with blood and oxygen.

The findings are scheduled for presentation Sunday at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Chicago.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 3,000 patients over age 45 who participated in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, making theirs the first nationally representative sample to show the association between sleep duration and heart health.

The study showed that people who got too little sleep were twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack and 1.6 times more likely to have congestive heart failure. People who slept more than eight hours a night were twice as likely to have angina and 1.1 times more likely to have coronary artery disease.

The findings remained significant even after the researchers accounted for heart risk factors such as age, blood cholesterol levels, smoking and obesity, as well as for sleep apnea and other sleep problems.

Previous studies have shown that insufficient sleep is linked to a hyperactive nervous system, glucose intolerance, diabetes, inflammation and a rise in stress hormones, blood pressure and resting heart rate, the researchers noted.

The reasons too much sleep can lead to heart problems are unclear, however, and further research will be needed.

For now, Arora said, health-care providers need to talk about sleep with their patients.

"Clinicians need to start asking patients about sleep, especially those who are already at greater risk of heart disease," he said. "It's really a simple thing to assess as part of a physical exam; it doesn't cost anything and it may help patients to adopt better sleep habits."

Although the new study uncovered an association between sleep issues and heart trouble, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The National Sleep Foundation has more on getting a good night's sleep.

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