Depression, Hostility May Increase Heart Disease Risk

Psychological risk factors like depression and hostility could contribute to heart disease risk, says psychologist Jesse Stewart from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research.

Stewart worked with more than 300 older adults who were part of another study looking at heart disease, giving them questionnaires to determine if they had hostile personalities or were depressed.

Their blood was also drawn and analyzed for inflammatory proteins predictive of future heart disease.

Stewart followed the subjects for six years and found that those who were hostile and depressed according to their questionnaires also had especially high levels of the inflammatory proteins.

The implication of these results, says Stewart, is that there are complex interactions between mind and body that could predispose people to heart disease. Treatments geared towards reducing hostility and depression could hopefully prevent or delay the onset of heart disease.

The study appears in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.