Published on
Updated
Reading 2 min.
The interactions between physical and mental health are numerous, to the point that scientists are now trying to assess to what extent one impacts the other on a daily basis. This is the case of recent work led by Swedish researchers, which suggests that women suffering from depression during and after pregnancy have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
This isn’t the first time mental health disorders have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but this new study by Swedish, Icelandic and American researchers focuses specifically on women. Those who suffer from depression during pregnancy and after childbirth would be more exposed to cardiovascular diseases; which would represent one in five women in the world. Scientists also specify that this phenomenon can persist up to twenty years after the diagnosis of perinatal depression.
“Cardiovascular diseases are one of the main causes of death in the world and the question of the integration of reproductive health (in relation to reproduction, editor’s note) in the assessment of risk in women is the subject of an ongoing debate. We wanted to know if a history of perinatal depression could help predict cardiovascular disease risk.“, underlines Dr Donghao Lu, from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, in a press release.
This work is based on the analysis of data from 55,539 Swedish women whose diagnosis of perinatal depression (during pregnancy and after childbirth) was made between 2001 and 2014, in comparison with another group, this time made up of 545,567 Swedish women. , having given birth during the same period but without a diagnosis of perinatal depression. All from the Swedish birth register, the Swedish Medical Birth Register. The participants were then followed until 2020 to determine whether or not they had developed cardiovascular disease.
Published in the European Heart Journal, the study indicates that 6.4% of women with a diagnosis of perinatal depression suffered from cardiovascular disease, compared to 3.7% of women without this diagnosis. Scientists specify that this represents a 36% higher risk of developing such a disease. In detail, the risk increases more for high blood pressure (+50%), ischemic heart disease (+37%) and heart failure (+36%).
“Our results can help identify people who are at 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 that for many people it is the first episode of depression they have experienced. Our findings reinforce the need to ensure maternal care is holistic, paying equal attention to physical and mental health“, concludes Dr. Bränn, who participated in the study.
Slide: 10 symptoms not to ignore during pregnancy