Mental disorders that increase the risk of diseases

A team of researchers from the Emory University (United States) has discovered that some Mental disorders They are associated with an increase of between 50 and 100 percent of the risk of heart disease, while raising their mortality by almost 100 percent, indicating an “inevitable overlap” between both phenomena.

The study, published in the magazine ‘The regional Health-Europe Lancet‘, has shown how depression is associated with 72 percent risk of developing cardiovascular disease; posttraumatic stress disorder, with 57 percent more probabilities; bipolar disorder, 61 percent; panic disorder, 50 percent; the phobia, with 70 percent; and schizophrenia, with almost 100 percent more possibilities of suffering from a heart -related pathology.

“More than 40 percent of people with cardiovascular diseases also suffer from a mental health problem,” explained the research leader, the doctor Viola Vaccarino, who has emphasized the bidirectional relationship that exists Among this type of pathologies.

Work has shown that mental illnesses are also related to a worse prognosis, a higher risk of re -entry and a greater mortality by existing heart disease, and that is that major depression “duplicates” the mortality rate in those with pre -existing cardiovascular diseases.

The aforementioned mental illnesses keep a “well documented” relationship with abnormal responses to stress in the autonomic nervous system, which allows the brain to manage involuntary responses, such as liver functions, heart, sweat glands and ocular muscles; and the hypothalamus-hypo-supranal axis, which influences the immune response and metabolism, which can affect cardiovascular function.

He autonomic nervous system It also manages both the acceleration and the deceleration of these functions, regulating inflammatory responses and, since most of the main organs have nerve endings of the autonomic nervous system, this system influences most of the bodily functions.

The deregulation of both systems generates “subsequent adverse effects that can affect cardiovascular risk chronic, such as increased inflammation, metabolic anomalies, blood pressure, increased systemic vascular resistance and autonomic inflexibility”; In addition, inflammation itself is related to the development of heart disease and mental health disorders.

Researchers have emphasized that social determinants of health also have a role in the disparities of cardiovascular diseases, and that is that people suffering from some mental health problem They can face interruptions and barriers in the continuous process of attention, such as affordability and accessibility.

In the same way, they have pointed out that lack of literacy or health communication can hinder access to detection and treatment tests.

In addition, clinical professionals could be seen “Challenged” when serving patients with mental illnesses, both for stigma and for existing models that “fragment” the care of psychological and physical health. These stigmas are present even in the field of clinical research, where suffering such a pathology can be an exclusion criterion of randomized trials.

The report has stressed that current prediction models do not take into account mental health disorders by predicting the risk of developing heart disease, which is why experts have recommended adopting an integrated approach and based on multidisciplinary care, which covers behavioral, mental and cardiovascular health.

“The close connection between cardiovascular and psychological health It justifies changes in the health system that are more accessible to patients with comorbidities (…) A clinical team would be ideal for the care of these patients: a team of specialists, social workers and nursing personnel who work in collaboration to provide care and multidisciplinary resources, “Vaccarino concluded.