Common mental health condition found to increase risk of heart attacks and stroke

New research has found a common mental health condition may increase your risk of heart attacks and stroke. According to a study published in European Heart Journal, women diagnosed with perinatal depression are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers say women diagnosed with the condition are at an increased risk in the following 20 years, compared to women who have given birth without experiencing perinatal depression. A perinatal mental health issue is something that can occur at any point from the moment you become pregnant until a year after you have your baby.

Perinatal mental health problems can include:

• Perinatal depression

• Perinatal anxiety

• Perinatal OCD

• Postnatal PTSD and birth trauma

• Postpartum psychosis

The study is the first of its kind to look at cardiovascular health after perinatal depression. Data has been taken from around 600,000 women.

Researchers found the strongest risks are associated with high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease and heart failure. Dr Emma Bränn, Dr Donghao Lu and colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, were the ones who conducted the study.

Dr Lu said: “Our research group has already found that perinatal depression is linked to an increased risk of several other health issues. Including premenstrual disorders, autoimmune disorders and suicidal behaviour, as well as premature death.

"Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death globally and there has been an ongoing discussion about including reproductive health when assessing the risk among women. We wanted to know if a history of perinatal depression could help predict cardiovascular disease risk."

The study was based on the Swedish Medical Birth Register, which records all births in the country. The researchers compared 55,539 Swedish women who were diagnosed with perinatal depression between 2001-2014, with another group of 545,567 Swedish women who had also given birth during that time but were not diagnosed with perinatal depression.

All the women were followed up through to 2020 to assess if they developed any cardiovascular disease. Among the women with perinatal depression, 6.4% developed cardiovascular disease compared to 3.7% of women who had not suffered with perinatal depression.

This equates to a 36% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Their risk of high blood pressure was around 50% higher, the risk of ischemic heart disease around 37% higher, and the risk of heart failure around 36% higher.

Dr Bränn, the study's senior author, added: "Our findings may help identify people who are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease so that steps can be taken to reduce this risk. This study also adds to the established health risks of perinatal depression.

"We know that perinatal depression is both preventable and treatable, and for many people it’s the first episode of depression they’ve ever experienced. Our findings provide more reason for ensuring maternal care is holistic, with equal attention on both physical and mental health.

"It remains unclear how and through what pathways perinatal depression leads to cardiovascular disease. We need to do more research to understand this so that we can find the best ways to prevent depression and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease."

Researchers also compared the women who suffered perinatal depression with their sisters. They found they had a 20% higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

"The slightly lower difference in risk between sisters suggest that there could be genetic or familial factors partly involved,” Dr Bränn explained . "There could also be other factors involved, as is the case for the link between other forms of depression and cardiovascular disease. These include alterations in the immune system, oxidative stress and lifestyle changes implicated in major depression."

If you're dealing with a mental health issue and you become pregnant, it's best to have a chat with your doctor right away. It could also be beneficial if you're considering starting a family.

Or you could talk to any other doctor involved in your mental health care, like a psychologist or psychiatrist. This is because having mental health problems can increase your risk becoming unwell during pregnancy and after birth.