Women with depression more likely to have heart-related diseases than men, finds study

Women suffering from depression are more likely to have cardiovascular diseases than men suffering from the condition, raising the need to tailor prevention measures according to the gender, a new research suggests.

The study’s authors say one of the main reasons for more occurrences of heart diseases in women is that they experience more severe and persistent symptoms of depression compared to men.

They say that women are also more likely to suffer depression during critical periods of hormonal changes such as pregnancy and menopause.

Other reasons included women’s higher vulnerability to hypertension, diabetes and obesity risks when depressed, all of which contribute towards developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), they add.

Therefore, preventing and managing heart and other cardiovascular diseases should be tailored to the depressed patient’s gender, the study suggests. ”The identification of sex-specific factors in the adverse effects of depression on cardiovascular outcomes may help in the development of targeted prevention and treatment strategies that address the specific CVD risks faced by depressed patients,” says Hidehiro Kaneko, a co-author of the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): Asia.

”A better understanding will allow healthcare providers to optimise care for both men and women with depression, leading to improved CVD outcomes for these populations,” adds Kaneko, who is an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan.

For the study, the researchers included over 41 lakh participants aged 36-52 years, more than half of whom were men. All the individuals were clinically diagnosed with depression. During initial health checkups, the team collected the participants’ body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and fasting values.

Statistically analysing all the data, the team found that the hazard ratio for CVD was 1.64 in women with depression, and 1.39 in men having depression.

”Healthcare professionals must recognise the important role of depression in the development of CVD. Assessing the risk of CVD in depressed patients and treating and preventing depression may lead to a decrease of CVD cases,” Kaneko says.

The study’s inability to establish a direct causal relationship between depression and cardiovascular events is one of its limitations, along with potential confounding factors that may influence the relationship, such as socioeconomic status and even COVID-19, the researchers acknowledge.