Stress, anxiety in adolescence increases MI risk later in life
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Nonpsychotic mental disorders in adolescent boys increased the risk for MI later in life, researchers reported at the virtual European Society of Cardiology Congress.
“Clinicians should look for signs of stress, depression or anxiety that is beyond normal teenage behavior or a persistent problem,” Cecile Bergh, PhD, researcher at Örebro University in Sweden, told Healio. “Those with poorer well-being could benefit from additional support to encourage exercise and also to develop strategies to deal with stress.”
In this register-based cohort study, researchers analyzed data from 238,013 Swedish men who were born between 1952 and 1956 and were followed from 1987 to 2010. All men underwent a compulsory military conscription examination, during which certain factors were measured including stress resilience and physical fitness. During this examination, 34,503 were diagnosed with a nonpsychotic mental disorder.
First MI was diagnosed in 5,891 men. Researchers found that nonpsychotic mental disorders increased the risk for MI (HR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.41-1.62). This association remained significant after adjusting for potential confounders including BMI, systolic and diastolic BP, cognitive function, inflammation, summary disease score and parental socioeconomic index (HR = 1.24; 95% CI, 1.13-1.35).
The link between these nonpsychotic mental disorders and MI risk remained statistically significant despite attenuation after further adjustment for physical fitness and stress resilience (HR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.08-1.29).
“In our data, we have results from conscription examinations that only were performed in men at those years,” Bergh said in an interview. “Men have a higher risk of MI than women before the age of 50 years, while young women on the other hand more often are diagnosed with mental ill health. Women are protected against MI before menopause. We therefore speculate that the risk is of similar magnitude for women.”
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Bergh C. Mental Health and Cardiovascular Disease: Cause, Consequence and Management. Presented at: European Society of Cardiology Congress; Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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