Are you a female Veteran who’s anxious or depressed? Then chances are you may be at a higher risk for heart disease.
Not exactly an uplifting thought, but it’s the conclusion of a recent study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University School of Medicine. The study appears in the Journal of Women’s Health.
“We found that midlife and older women Veterans with depression had a 60 percent greater chance of having coronary artery disease than those without depression,” said Dr. Megan Gerber, medical director of women’s health at the VA Boston Healthcare System. “And that’s regardless of whether they smoked or not.”
She added: “We also found that with each additional mental health condition — say anxiety, for example — your risk for heart disease goes up by another 40 percent.”
Gerber and her team studied the data of 157,000 women Veterans over the age of 45 to examine the relationship between coronary artery disease and the presence of one or more mental health conditions. (Coronary artery disease causes a waxy substance called plaque — cholesterol deposits — to build up on the inside of your coronary arteries. These are the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to your heart.)
“Our study suggests that women may be able to reduce their risk for heart disease by getting the help they need for depression or other mental health issues, along with traditional health and lifestyle interventions,” Gerber said. “This is good news for women Veterans enrolled in the VA
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