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Individual and joint associations of anxiety disorder and depression with cardiovascular disease: A UK Biobank prospective cohort study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2023

Shinya Nakada
Affiliation:
School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Frederick K. Ho
Affiliation:
School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Carlos Celis-Morales
Affiliation:
School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK Human Performance Laboratory, Education, Physical Activity and Health Research Unit, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
Caroline A. Jackson
Affiliation:
Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Jill P. Pell*
Affiliation:
School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
*
Corresponding author: Jill P. Pell; Email: jill.pell@glasgow.ac.uk

Abstract

Background

Growing evidence suggests that individuals with anxiety disorder have an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but few studies have assessed this association independently of or jointly with depression.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cohort study using UK Biobank. Diagnoses of anxiety disorder, depression, and CVDs were ascertained through linked hospital admission and mortality data. Individual and joint associations between anxiety disorder and depression and CVD overall, as well as each of myocardial infarction, stroke/transient ischemic attack, and heart failure, were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard models and interaction tests.

Results

Among the 431,973 participants, the risk of CVD was higher among those who had been diagnosed with anxiety disorder only (hazard ratio [HR] 1.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32–2.24), depression only (HR 2.07; 95% CI 1.79–2.40), and both conditions (HR 2.89; 95% CI 2.03–4.11) compared to those without these conditions, respectively. There was very little evidence of multiplicative or additive interaction. Results were similar for myocardial infarction, stroke/transient ischemic attack, and heart failure.

Conclusions

Having anxiety is associated with the same magnitude of increased risk of CVD among people who do not have depression and those who do. Anxiety disorder should be considered for inclusion in CVD risk prediction and stratification, in addition to depression.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Figure 0

Figure 1. Flowchart of the participant selection process.

Figure 1

Table 1. Characteristics of subjects by anxiety disorder and depression

Figure 2

Table 2. Associations of anxiety disorder and depression with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, stroke/TIA, and heart failure

Figure 3

Table 3. Joint associations and interactions of depression and anxiety disorder with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, stroke/TIA, and heart failure

Figure 4

Figure 2. Individual and joint associations of anxiety disorder and depression with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, stroke/TIA, and heart failure.CI, confidence interval; CVD, cardiovascular diseases; HF, heart failure; MI, myocardial infarction; TIA, transient ischemic attack. All models were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, and deprivation level.

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